meredith, caroline & hannah

weekend in Spartanburg

2011-06-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

Since Alan is at another conference, the girls and I decided to spend a long weekend with my parents in Spartanburg. My Mom got tons of cute pics so I could not help but put lots of them on here. After these, wow ... I will be all caught up ... for a few days anyway! The girls start their art camp tomorrow and we see their Grammy, Aunt Sara and little cousin Kate again this weekend. Fun times!

The twins favorite thing to do these days (by far!) is art! They could sit and make art for hours. They love paints, watercolors, markers, stampers, crayons, stickers ... you name it. They are very good and creative with what they like to draw. I will brag a bit and say even their little art teacher at school said they are some of the best she has seen for their age! Hmmm ... it is fun to think about what they will really get into when they are older.

All my girls, my Mom and my Grandmother ...
She gets away with murder ...

The three musketeers. The twins are actually really seeming to enjoy Caroline these days ... they still have jealous moments but they love to give her hugs and kisses and the feeling is verrrrrry mutual. Hope they are always close ...

Caroline is loving sitting at the table with the big girls!

Grandaddy hugs!

Caroline loves to give kisses and if she sees the twins giving me kisses she runs over and puckers up for one, too! She was a bit fussy while we were there due to not sleeping well but she was very happy the day we left (of course) and giggled while giving Grandmama kisses!

We went to feed some ducks and this is on the way back to the car ... all the girls love holding hands but they all want to hold mine ... if only I had 3 ... hmmmm ...

Eating ice cream ...

Hanging out ...

Fun on the trampoline ...

Making muffins ...

recital and fun in the sun ...

2011-06-12T21:04:00.000-07:00

We have been having tons of fun in this little inexpensive inflatable pool I got at Target! It is crazy how much these girls love this pool! We have also gotten out to the beach a good bit. It seems that we will be spending a lot of time outside this summer. The girls are done with pre-school and dance for the summer though they have a few little summer camps to go to. Caroline is doing well and really learning fast. She is most definately not a baby anymore and absolutely into toddlerhood and terrible twos ... here we come! You just can't stay mad at her for long though ... Here are some pictures of the recital and a few of the girls, including their little niece, Kate.

Flowers from Daddy ...

Yay Hannah!

YAY Meredith!
Meredith on the bars ...

Hannah on the bars ...

Meredith on the balance beam ...

Waiting for their turn ... and yes, they each had to have one pink and one blue elastic in their hair ... ;)

What a cute line-up!

Getting ready for the big show ...

Hangin in the pool with Kate!

Ta-da!!!

She is obviously miserable ... =)

friends and trips

2011-06-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of May, we had some friends in town. Alan and some of his Fellowship collegues from GA were at a conference in Savannah so the girls and the kids all came here for a few days. It was the most wonderful chaos! I laugh that it was easier to have 3 Moms and 7 kids than just me and Alan and the kids ... other Moms just know what to do around a house! If one kid was getting dinner made that Mom made it for all 7 or if one kid was taking a bath then we just threw the extras in ... it was great and fun and I MISS them! Oh, I guess I missed Alan a little, too ;)

This is Ashlyn ... SO SO SO adorable and I could not stop taking pictures of her all week! She is the daughter of Kathy and John who also have 3 year old Mckenna. They live in Pheonix, AZ.

Here are five of the seven. Mckenna between the twins, then Katelyn and Braden who are the kids of Abby and Rob who live in Des Moines, Iowa.
Mckenna and the twins having fun with bubbles.

We went on our first "no-kids" vacation to St. John, USVI in May. It was wonderful! My awesome Mom stayed with the kids and though it was a bit hard to leave them and I missed them when we were gone ... it was MUCH needed and we enjoyed every minute of it! It was hard to choose from all the photos but here are a few ...

This is a pretty shell we found on a hike called "Rams Head Hike." We carried up to the summit and left it there to welcome others. It was such a beautiful view though it would have been better with sunnier weather ... 360 views of the islands and ocean ... my photos do it no justice at all ...

On the way up ...

Part of the hike was along this rocky coast ... it was so pretty and the rocks along the shore were all so perfect and smooth it looked staged! You can barely see Alan way down there ...

This is the beginning of the hike and I just thought this little palm looked so pretty ...

This is part of a different hike. One day we rented a Jeep and drove (well, Alan drove ... on the "right" side of the car but "wrong" side of the road) around the island. We wanted to do these two hikes ... the Reef Bay Trail and the Ram's Head Hike. We met up with a group with the Reef Bay Hike and got to hear a lot of history about the island. This is the ruins of a Sugar Mill ... this hike was actually a lot longer than the other and had a lot of really cool history and several "ruined" structures and some ancient carvings ... I took tons of random pics but will spare you the details =)

We went deep-sea fishing one of the afternoons we were there. We both got pretty seasick but got some good fish anyway! The resort cooked some of the Mahi for us that night and it was, by far, the best fish I have ever had!

My tuna ...

There were tons of animals and little critters running all around the resort we were staying. The resort is nestled right into the National Park and was very natural and beautiful ... it was not uncommon at all to see deer, donkeys, mongoose (mongeese?) here and there while walking around ... this was on one of the little trails from one beach to another one ... peek-a-boo deer!

One day we took a trail from the resort to the downtown area called Cruz Bay. It was a bummy little town with funky stores and really good restaurants. This is Alan when were were at the overlook ...

Cruz Bay

Me!

Just a cool tree in a pretty spot =)

Feeling carefree but strange without my 3 little ducklings ...

We did enjoy a little bit of beach time, too. We spent two afternoons just chilling on the beach ... the one outside our room one day then we took a taxi to another beach ... Trunk Bay Beach ... to experience a little more of the local experience.

This is the view off our balcony ...

Easter

2011-05-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

WOW ... it has been a while. I will have to make several updates to catch up. I will start with the time around Easter. My parents came for Easter weekend. My brother and his family were also around as my sister-in-law's parents live close-by. It was fun to be able to hang out with Sylvia and watch as she and Caroline are getting closer and closer to being able to play together and interact a little more. Caroline is everywhere these days and makes me laugh so hard at how she copies anything and everything the twins do. She is very, verrrrry social and silly and so full of herself!! She says around 10 or so words but mostly is still a "point and grunt" type kid. She makes a few animal noises. She can follow orders (if she is in the mood) and seems to understand most of what we say. She is so BIG compared to the twins at 22 pounds (50% for a 15-month-old) and I can't remember the inches but 75% for height! She can identify some of her body parts and loves to show us her tummy or her "beh buh" (belly button.) She stuck her finger up my nose today and said "no" (for nose.) She is getting there! She probably feels a bit timid since the stream of chatter from her sisters is seemingly constant. The twins are good. They are now wrapping up school and dance lessons for the summer. I have them signed up for an art camp and a cooking camp. We have a small trip or two on the horizon but I plan to lay pretty low for the summer as they will go to school 4 days a week next year. I will get on with some pictures ...

While my parents were around, we took the girls downtown to enjoy some sunshine, water fountains and Italian Ice ...

Here is Sylvi! She and Caroline had some fun playing and they took a bath together ... hope they will be good playmates! Sylvi will have a brother soon ... so exciting!

Looks like the Easter Bunny came to see the girls!

Hanging with Coop ... she loves to crawl around in his bed ... gross ...

In this picture she was trying to put a necklace on him ... he kept moving around and she could never catch him ...

Pretty girls enjoying the spring flowers ... this is Hannah ...

Disney!!

2011-02-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

Alright, here we go. I actually didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. I was usually juggling too much with the three kids and all our stuff to haul out the camera and snap away. I did manage to get a good many though (as you will see =). The trip went pretty well. Better than expected with the twins and worse than expected with Caroline. She used to be such a "go with the flow" type kid but has turned into a squirming fussing crazy girl ... and get her a little too tired and overstimulated and the you-know-what can hit the fan before you can remember your name. She can throw a hissy fit like nobody's business ... and coming from the mother of Meredith and Hannah ... that is saying A. LOT. Just before you want to hand her to Mickey Mouse and run, she can flip that switch and be so charming to you and everyone around you that NO ONE would believe you when you said just 5 minutes ago she was throwing a fit ... Alan said he doesn't know ANYONE else like that ... hmmmm ... She is a little flirt though and it is so cute to see her interact with strangers because the twins were not like that at all. She loves the attention ... Anyway, back to Disney ... The first day we went to Magic Kingdom and everyone was really fussy and we wondered if we were going to really regret going on this trip ... but for the rest of the week Alan kept Caroline in the hotel most of the time (he would meet us here and there) and the twins and I ventured out. Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios were MUCH more their speed. They are such timid kids and I think the general craziness and loudness of Magic Kingdom was a bit of a turn-off for them. They had their moments and it was a bit of a struggle to get them out of the hotel most days but once we got out and about they did well. They were angels on every bus/train/ferry boat we went on and behaved really well at all the restaurants ... I was very proud of them. Their favorite things were the shows ... their (and my) all-time favorite was the Festival of the Lion King ... it was AMAZING and they had gymnasts and dancers and I think it was really cool for them to see some of the things they do (like the uneven bars) used in that advanced way. We also saw Beauty and The Beast Live, The Little Mermaid and Nemo. It was nice to have some one-on-two time as opposed to being with all 3. I think it was good for Caroline to have some Daddy time, too. I just hated that Alan did not get to have much fun and that we didn't get to see each other much. He was sweet, though, and said that I "deserved" it (to go and have fun) and I was grateful for that. Well, on with the pics ... I will try to keep the chat to a minimum as there are TONS of pics (I guess it is a little late for that ...)

For the twins, seeing the Little Einsteins was like meeting celebrities! They love their TV shows ... this is June and Quincy ...

and Annie and Leo ... these were the only characters that the twins wanted to have anything to do with ... they LIKE the other characters when they are on TV but they were a little freaked out with the costumes (think: reaction to Santa) and all but I guess they were too excited to be afraid of the Little Einsteins!

well, Hannah took a little coaxing ...

Unlike the twins, Caroline thought the characters were hysterical ... as you will see throughout ... we had dinner at the Crystal Palace with Pooh and Friends ...

A purple Cinderella's Castle ... if you have never seen the firework show (which is also a really amazing light show that uses the castle as a canvas) it is really crazy how they light up this castle into different scenes ... crazy.

OK, on to the Animal Kingdom ... we spent two days here as the twins LOVED it ... this is the Kilimanjaro Safari which is like going to the zoo only someone rides you through it in a Jeep and tells a story about poachers ... we got to "save" a baby elephant by scaring away some poachers and MAN did those 3 year olds take that seriously! Even the second time through (they loved it so much we went twice) they did not find it coincidental at all that the SAME thing happened ... they STILL go on and on about the poachers. Meredith told me last night that she dreamed about the poachers ... Anyway, this is a super cool tree ... they called it the "upside down" tree in addition to the real name which I forgot ...

There was a fake baby elephant in the back of a canvas Jeep for the purpose of the story but this one is real ... so cute! So cute, too, how it just stood and snuggled with it's Mommy ... he said elephants stay with their Mommies for 13 years ... pretty cool.

just a bunch of cool animals ... I have forgotten what many of them are called ...

well, this is the Nile Crocodile

Hippo!

Screaming Cheetah ... no, wait, that is Caroline ... see, hard to believe that she is ever naughty, eh? This day, they all fell asleep in the strollers ... too bad that did not happen more often!

The girls were never really interested in the parades. I think all the crowds and noise turned them off from them ... we got stuck in them a lot, however. A lot of times we couldn't get to where we needed to be so we would have to wait them out. I always thought they were fun =) This is the jammin' jungle parade in Animal Kingdom ... Pluto ...

Mickey ...

Minnie ...The Tree of Life ... which I think is really awesome! The artwork which made up the trunk was amazing.

Tigger!

Mommy ... what in the h*** is that?

I love you so much that I will bite your nose ... yes ... she bit his nose ... got drool all in his little breathing mesh grill thing on his nose ... oops =)

I think it is really funny to bite Pooh ...

If I have to sit through this show about birds then you better give me some ice cream! Sara, sorry about Kate's shirt but I promise it came out in the wash =)

One of (the many) restaurants where we ate ... it was a really neat one though ... I wish I would have gotten more pics of the inside ... it is The Rainforst Cafe ... and it is like you are sitting in the middle of the rainforest eating! This was right outside the exit ...

and here was the entrance ... my pics of the inside did not come out all that well ... sort-of dark in there

the twins and Goofy ... they were not so thrilled ...

Ahhhh ... here we go ... dinner with the Princesses ... I think the twins thought they died and went to heaven ... they were so excited to see the princesses (I guess they aren't scary since they are just like us only with (what Alan calls) a carcenogenic amount of make-up on ... here was Caroline having desert ... kid is not happy unless she is getting to be a big girl (in this case using a spoon) and getting to make a mess!

Cinderella ...

despite the face she was really not grumpy here ... I wanted to get a good picture of her "kiss" =)

Ariel ...Snow White (the giver of the kiss) ... we met Snow White earlier in the day and the girls did not want to talk to her once it was our turn ... I rode them up there in the stroller anyway and they did not want to get out and M was OK but H was a grumpy pants ... well, she remembered that ... I was so surprised since it had been at least 5 or so hours since then and they were even in different clothes ... she was like (in her princessy voice) "have I met you girls before? Out by the wishing well? You are much happier now!"

Sleeping Beauty ... Hannah was so funny ... after every time we took a picture she wanted to show the princess what the picture looked like on the camera screen ... and tell her all kinds of random facts ... it was really cute to see her so excited and social! Meredith was happy but a little timid.

Epcot ...

Caroline was particularly difficult any time we had to be still ... like on a mode of transportation, a show, dinner or waiting for dinner ... sometimes I had to resort to bribery to get from point A to point B ... she was so sticky ... then, of course, wiped her face on me ... good thing for the washer and dryer in our villa!

Forgot what this little show was called but it was a cute one with the Mickey Mouse and crew and princesses all in one little story about believing in your dreams ...

Cinderella's Castle again ... and Alan with his three little princesses (awwwwww ;) We were able to get in a few things before the fussing hit in Magic Kingdom ... they loved the Small World ride and the Carousel ...

This was one of the things the girls enjoyed in Magic Kingdom ... Minnie's country house, Mickey's country house and a little playground across the "street" ... behind Mickey's house we were able to meet Minnie and Mickey ...

They were a little afraid but not too bad ... I think they still thought it was pretty neat ...

Caroline's birthday!!! and other things ...

2011-02-15T18:09:00.000-08:00

Here I am again ... trying to play catch-up. We have had a busy year and it is hard to believe it is already mid-February. These are just a few photos of Caroline's birthday and this and that from the weeks around her birthday. I plan to have our pictures from Disney posted soon, as well.

Meredith and Hannah made these Groundhog Day Hats at school ... they were sure to tell me that if I saw a groundhog that I could look at it but not pick it up because it might scratch me ... I assured them I would not be picking up any groundhogs ;)

me likely the raisins ...

getting a little help from her sisters ... the little kitchen by her window was her present from us ... the real gift was Mommy putting it together ... after 20 pages of instructions, countless little pieces, 6 lollipops and 7 wow, wow, wubzys (because two certain little distractions are no longer napping) ... it was finally done ... and even though the twins thought it would be great to take all the little identification numbers off all the little packs of screws and bolts (there were at least 7 or 8 different kinds, shapes, and sizes) and put them all on one little piece of paper ... it hasn't fallen apart ... yet ...

wasn't digging the cake ...

Alan made Caroline a delicious red (well, pink because we did not have enough red food coloring ...) velvet cake for her birthday and cooked a yummy birthday dinner. My parents were here for the birthday and the recital for the twins ... it was a nice, low-key celebration.

Ta-da! I can NOT believe my baby is one! I will save the sappy mush but will say what we all know ... it is all too precious and goes by tragically fast.

On Caroline's birthday, the twins had a little skills showcase at The Little Gym. They did a tap number, a ballet number, balance beam, and uneven bars. Then they each got a little ribbon. These are the cuties that are in their class. I put several videos on Facebook but have a hard time putting videos on here for some reason.

YAY Meredith (this is in reverse order ... you know me ...)

They did a little routine where they started on the low bar, then up to the high, then did a little turn, then a basket hang, then a jump landing ... all assisted, of course ... here is M on the high bar ...

YAY Hannah! You can see how happy she was ... so cute ... they are such timid girls that it is fun to see them beaming with pride.

Hannah on the high bar about to do the basket hang ...

waiting for their turn on the balance beam ... I love pictures like this ... reminds me of my dance days ...

huddling for courage ... they were a bit shy with the crowd of an audience but they got up there and I was proud of them for that ...

what a group of cuties ...

loving being able to be in the gymnastics room with her sisters instead of having to look through the glass with envy ...

OK ... just a few more ... I can't help it ...

2011-01-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

A few more of crazy Christmas at the Finley household. Here are M and H after we played in the snow. They were warming up on Granddaddy ...

Aunt Sarah and Caroline ... Sarah and her Mom were so helpful with Caroline while I got prepared for a little drop-in we had for my Mom's side of the family (my parents are both from Charleston and many of my Mom's kin still live here) ... Caroline clearly felt very comfortable with Sarah and her Mom.

spoiled, spoiled girlies =)

I wish I could hire him ...

Caroline's sassy outfit from Aunt Kristi ... I love that we are always on the receiving end of the fact that she only gets to shop for boys! Love this outfit (and the sweater that came with it) ... and it is so true. She is very huggable. She was such a stoic little baby but her personality has gotten almost too big for her body! When you sing, she sings and dances ... when you yell, she yells ... when you laugh, she laughs (earlier today I called "Hannnnn-NNNNah!" up the stairs and right after she yells "Ahhhhhh-Ahhhhhhhhh!")... when you blow on her hot food, she blows with you ... it has been so cute to watch her personality come out.

Christmas dinner ... it is strange that instead of sitting at the kid's table ... my KIDS are sitting at the kid's table ... it all comes full circle, I suppose!

Meredith and Grayson "reading" ... well, Grayson is reading and Meredith is wishing she could. She has gotten to where she gets very frustrated if she does not have a book memorized ... she gets so upset and says "I don't know what the words say?!?!" and I need to do some research on how to help her learn to read ... if anyone has tips, let me know. I plan to get her a Tag but other than that ... I'm all new to this.

One of the girls favorite gifts ... a stamp, paper and colored pencil set (thanks to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Ryan) ... I have been impressed by Hannah's artistic abilities these days. They are taking an art supplementary class at school and I guess this is where she is learning but she will draw people and flowers and houses and blocks ... and it is really clear what she is drawing ... she doesn't have to tell me what it is ... it will be obvious to me. I don't know what the "norm" is with 3-4 year olds but I think she is pretty good!

caught up-Christmas Part 2

2011-01-08T17:14:00.000-08:00

OK, I may have gone a little overboard with the photos and I still could have very easily picked 25 more to post. Here are a few of our goings on the week after Christmas. The past few weeks we have just been picking up the pieces and trying to get all the new things organized with the old things! Trying to get back into the routine of work, school and dance and trying to gear up for Caroline's birthday and our trip to Disney! New Years Eve was not eventful though I am proud to say that we did stay up to see the ball drop (and bonus, the fireworks around the 'hood did not wake the kiddos!)

the boys and the girls joggling ...

the whole she-bang ...
coloring ...

watching A Bug's Life ...

... jump castle

Grayson reading to Hannah (who applied her own lipgloss here) ...

... Hannah's new fancy blocks ... by the way, we split up the twins' rooms and they are loving having their own rooms. It has really helped out with them getting along with each other and sleeping better and going to sleep without the fight. I thought it would be tough on me (can't explain it ... maybe a twin Mom thing) but they have been so happy with the change that I am just happy for them.

Brayden and Mer Bear in the tent

Hannah riding on Caroline's new rocky butterfly ...

Sarah being Uber-Mom ... she could do twins ... piece of cake ;) These two were fighting over Little People Animals ... it was funny for the tables to be turned on Caroline ... she is usually taking stuff from the twins ...

Again ... Uber-Mom ... Caroline and Sylvi with Auntie Sarah ...

Aunt Kristi and Caroline ... it is SOOOOO nice to have a baby who will go to someone other than just me! Alan even put her to bed tonight ... ahhhh a little taste of freedom!

I'm telling you ... always wants what they have ...

Rub a Dub Dub ... three girls in the tub! This was the first time for all 3 in the tub! Caroline is hilarious in the tub ... loves it ... will stick her face in the water and blow bubbles and stick her whole head in the faucet stream when I am filling it ... the twins STILL freak out when I am just trying to rinse their hair!

On their new scooters in their new PJs from Aunt Tricia ... they had to put the new PJs on right away then would not get in "real" clothes all day ... who can blame them ... PJs are pretty comfy ... funny that they did the same exact thing last year with some new PJs from Santa.

We spent one of the afternoons while we were in Spartanburg in Fort Mill visiting my sister and her family ... this is Grayson, her oldest, being very sweet to his baby cousin (he always is so sweet to Caroline!)

Six kids ... no problem!

At my parents house ... my parents have PLENTY of toys as they have 7 grandkids 8 and under but the girls can seem to play with just about anything ... their imagination and their pretend play is fun to watch develop. Here they were "kitty cats" in their kitty cat beds. They would even lick each other on the faces (gross =)

the cutest elf ever ...

making smores with Granddaddy ...

my three girls with their Great Granny ... well, two girls with their Great Granny and one kid playing in the trash can (yuck)

we took the girls to Monkey Joes in Spartanburg and they all had a blast ... all the pictures are terribly fuzzy as they were all running mach speed ...

Hannah was grumping here because Meredith had gone to the bathroom and she kept saying "I miss Meredith" ... she was gone all of 5 minutes ... crazy girl ...

Caroline's first bouncy house experience ... she loved it ... clearly ...

this was my gift from my parents ... what an awesome idea ... and the girls love it ...

catching up-take 2-Christmas Part 1

2011-01-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

I went to Spartanburg the week before Christmas as the girls were out of school and Alan had a busy work week. They loved being at Grandmama and Granddaddy's house and it was nice for me, too, to be able to go "home" for Christmas. My parents came back with me on Christmas Eve and spent about a week at our house. The rest of my family (brother and family and sister and family) came on Sunday and we had a lot of family time and a LOT of presents! Here are just a few pictures of Christmas Day and Sunday morning and I plan to post a few more tomorrow that are from various other people's cameras ...

So, I guess a lot of people would laugh that I would even call this "playing in the snow" as it was really more just flurries and rain ... but it is as close as we may ever get to a "White Christmas" ... we donned rain boots and went splashing in the melted snow puddles and caught a few snowflakes on our tongues then went inside for hot cocoa ...

The view from out the family room window ... it was really pretty and it lasted pretty much all day ... too bad there was zero accumulation as the girls were dying to make a snowman.

Well, these are in backwards order ... but here are a few of the things the girls got from Santa ... they got tons of gifts from Santa, Mommy and Daddy, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles ... they are very fortunate girls.

Santa came!!!

... hmmmm ... what else is in here? She got the hang of the gift thing pretty quickly!

... as usual, she wants everthing that belongs to the twins ... even before she knows what it is (PS I think this is a GREAT photo of my Mom ... beautiful ... and it was first thing in the AM?!?!)

I guess ... who could really blame her for wanting the twins' packages ... she did sort-of get sold short ... I (I mean, Santa) thought she wouldn't know the difference ... but you know ... I think she DID!

Girls being silly girls ...

Looks like Caroline has the same general feeling towards Santa that the twins do (they still refuse to sit in his lap and I don't try to force them to.)

Last, but not least, you know I had to take pictures of my cookies! They came out pretty this year. And tasty if I do say so myself =) I made 150 of them! Took me 3 or 4 nights of staying up way past midnight but it does put me in the holiday spirit!

catching up -take 1-Thanksgiving

2011-01-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

Wow ... what a busy holiday season! Wonderfully busy! We got to see just about all of our family and it was really nice. The twins are finally happy to go and visit as opposed to just saying over and over that they "just want to go home." Caroline, in true form, is happy if her sisters are happy. She seems to take cues from them on whether or not a situation or person is "OK." She seems to have a bit of separation anxiety but does not suffer from stranger anxiety at all. It is really nice. I don't feel like I have to go and sit in a room with her by myself so that she will not scream like a banshee ... it is nice to have a much more "chill" baby. Let me think ... well, we started off the season going to Alan's parent's house in Sumter, SC. The girls had a great time just playing at the house and out in the backyard. On Friday after Thanksgiving we went to Alan's sister's house in Columbia, SC for a birthday party for cousin Kate (2) and a trip to the zoo! After that came the crazy roller coaster of Christmas ... I will let the pictures take over ... these are mostly Thanksgiving up to a few weeks before Christmas ...

Caroline loves Cooper and I think the feeling is pretty mutual (until she pulls his hair.) I think, for the most part, he is just glad someone is paying him some attention and feeding him some junk food. Here she is playing with him with his toy and he is giving her some doggie kisses!

... come on, you know you want to play with me!!!
... the stockings were hung by the chimney with care while Pinky Dinky Doo played on the TV up there ...

Barbara found one of those great things that I wish I had thought of ... a gingerbread house that is plastic that you just do the fun part (decorating) then clean it off and use it again next year ... the girls had a blast (decorating it and eating the candy off it for days) ... here is Hannah's side ...

Meredith's ...

... getting started ... one for the house ... one for my mouth!

Caroline is always doing the hand and knee crawl for a while now ... no more army crawling ... she is cruising all around the house now holding on to this and that and hopping from this to that and she has even taken one or two unassisted steps ... won't be long now ...

... in the girls' classroom after the holiday program ...

Oh my goodness ... the cutest thing ever ... the girls' holiday program. I was amazed that they participated and just how many songs they sang! They must have sung at least 15 songs! Here, they are doing Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer with the antlers ... they are in the back row and both are actually beside girls in green dresses ... Meredith between a girl in green and a girl in red and Hannah between a girl in green and a boy in navy.

... hilarious ... Caroline fell asleep in the car on the way to the holiday program ... though she woke in the middle of a crowd of people (has to be weird, you know?) she was really so well-behaved.

Though there were many, MANY things that were tough about the twins as babies ... they really weren't babies who got into everything ... can't say the same for Caroline ...

Happy girls ... they were just such giggly girls getting ready for school one day that I had to snap a picture!

The twins love to strip down to the undies immediately upon coming home from anywhere ... this particular day they decided to play dress-up ... Alan laughed and said they looked like Victorias Secret angel models with the wings, heels & undies.

Caroline and Daddy at Kate's party.

The twins and Kate the day of her party ...

Barbara was hoping to get a photo for her Christmas card while we were at their house for Thanksgiving so we launched a photo shoot ... I put them in their Clemson and Carolina T's (that she got for them ... I was so impressed that she got a Clemson one so I wouldn't be left out ... just for that I put Caroline in a Carolina one to skew it her way) and we went to play in the yard ... beforehand I snapped a cute one of Caroline in the high chair ...

... the best we could do ... though I was a bit sad we didn't get a cuter one of Caroline ... I guess the more kids you have the lower the chances of getting a good one of all of them!

... checking out the dogs in their cages ...

... still checking out the dogs ...

The twins are so lucky to have each other ... they are very best friends and play so well together ... I hope once Caroline is able to play better with them they will be kind to her. At this point they shun her a bit and just act like she is a big annoyance ... I can tell how much it hurts her feelings ... sometimes when they run from her or close a door in her face (after she has worked so hard to get to where they are) she just cries and cries and it breaks my heart. Every so often they will throw some love her way ... hugs or kisses ... and she loves it.

The real Halloween

2010-11-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would post a few pictures of the girls on the actual Halloween. They had a good time trick-or-treating and really worked hard for their candy! They must have walked a mile or so ... and if you add up and down all the stairs everyone has up to their front doors in our neighborhood then probably more like two! They got lots and lots of candy so we have the "if you eat two more bites of healthy food, then you can have another piece of candy" conversation many, many times a day. Caroline went along for the ride and was really a trooper. She hung right in there and it made me laugh how weirded out she seemed to be to be out when it is dark outside. She kept reaching her hands in the air like she was trying to grab the light coming from streetlamps.

Here are the twins with "their" pumpkins

All ready! Do you like our Happy Halloween sign? It was hand decorated by the twins, their cousin Kate ... and hand crinkled and drooled on by Caroline ...
Until we have more holiday decorating money in the budget, we will stick to kid crafts =) ... they made these little cats at pre-school

Oh, if only ... I already have the twins pretty convinced that it stinks to be a baby (so they would stop wanting me to baby them all the time, too) but knowing that she was not allowed to have any candy sure drove that message home.

comparing candy ...

come on, Mommy, just one dum dum ...

Halloween party and etc ...

2010-10-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

We went to the Little Gym (where the girls take dance and gymnastics) for a Halloween carnival this evening and had some good photo ops. I may take some more tomorrow but had time to post ... so, here I am! The carnival was great and the girls loved showcasing some of their talents for Daddy (I go with them to their class every week.)

Mommy and Caroline! The twins would not get a picture taken with me =(

Sara let us borrow this adorable bee costume that was Kate's.
So the girls love to do this move ... at class ... on our kitchen island ... wherever. It, apparently, is called a basket hang and they are pretty good at it! I think their favorite part is letting go and flopping down on the squishy mat!

Dunk!

Wanting to do it "all by myself!"

Fore!

She started on the little circle but then got a bit closer, and a bit closer ... oh, well ... at least she finally got those punkins!

Somebody's a grumpy punkin!

I'll have to get some better, lighted pumpkin pics tomorrow ... this is Meredith and Mommy's finished product!

They weren't about to stick their hands in the pumpkin goo ... amateurs ...

claiming their pumpkins

Caroline ... well, her MD appointment went well. She was all over the exam room. She is 16 pounds 14 ounces (down to about 15%) and 27 1/2 inches (50%) ... but, for obvious reasons (her sisters) I am not worried about her weight. That, and the fact that she is so mobile and has been for months. She had a horrible ear infection and I didn't even know (had been fussy but you remember all about the 7 new teeth.) Other than that, she is healthy and perfect! Seems that I may need a baby gate for the bottom of the stairs ...

Hmmmm ... what do I want to play with?

I used to have the twins put whatever they were doing (coloring .. playing with little things) up on the table so that Caroline would not bother them or get to choking hazard type toys ... hmmmm ... going to have to come up with a new plan! Now she is right there with them ... and loving it!

1/2 way binky free, pulling up & alligators??

2010-10-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I have lots and lot of pictures ... mostly of Caroline but it is such a fun age (mostly!) that I feel compelled to document her every move! First things first, the twins are now only allowed to have their binky, aka bee bee, aka pacifier for sleeping times. This has been verrrrrry hard on us all but it has been a week and they are beginning to accept it as a rule. When they get upset about something is really the only time they ask for it anymore. I am trying to teach them other ways of calming down but, really, it probably just takes time for them to figure this out on their own. We have practiced a lot of deep breathing and pillow punching ... I feel like, in a few months, maybe we can be ready to send it off to paci heaven with the paci fairy or something. We will see how it goes! I am happy with our progress though we have had many fights about it this week. It is going pretty much how I assumed it would and that is why I have waited this long =) They are all geared up for Halloween and I am excited for it this year since they "get it" and are excited for it, too. As for Caroline, she is a pulling up champ. She is a climber. You know what this is leading to? Yep, climbed out of her bed ... already! I, of course, freaked out and thought I should take her to the ER but of course, Alan talked me off the ledge as usual. We have since lowered her bed again and hope it will be a while before she is tall enough for a repeat performance. She has 3 teeth and is getting 4 in. I can see them but not quite feel them yet. You can imagine what this does for her moods but who can blame the poor kid. She continues to be a great eater and has been boycotting all baby food for months now. She is on all table food and eats more in a sitting than the twins eat in a day (probably combined!) She has an appointment on Tuesday and I hope she is not huge in the ranks! She is still nursing 4 times a day. She is babbling a lot and loves her big sisters! She wants everything they have and wants to play with them constantly ... which, of course, drives them up a wall! With the sibling fighting ... I guess what goes around comes around ... my parents are probably smirking as I type ... don't even try and deny it.

Well, here is our most recent neighbor. Yes, we have an alligator living in the pond across the street. This makes me crazy but what can ya do?! Animal control says not to worry unless it gets to be 4 or 5 feet long ... I am wondering ... why wait that long ... just come get the stinker right now!? This is taken from our porch then cropped waaaaay in so it is not the greatest ... but you get the drift. He is about 3 feet ... and very elusive ... I only see him every now and then.

On to cuter 3 footers ... awwww ... togetherness, peace and happiness ... for a few minutes anyway.
hanging in the yard ... keeping an eye out for gators ...

Meredith is really into her baby doll (whose name is Meredith, conveniently) ... she takes her EVERYWHERE! The other day we were taking baby dolls for a walk (we all 3 had our strollers ... theirs filled with dolls and mine filled with Caroline) and we were on a little break (one of our many) and they put their baby dolls face down in the grass and said ... "look, baby doll is eating the grass! Grass is not delicious!!!" Looks like their baby dolls and Caroline have a good bit in common.

wouldn't it be nice to be a little kid ... either that or have a super-sized couch that you could snuggle down in however you wanted to ... she looks pretty comfy.

sisterly hugs ...

I look a little crazy-eyed here but I was trying to get a picture of Caroline and myself ... I am her favorite jungle gym.

whose drooling?

this is what happens when you fuss in my house! HA! Before you call DSS ... she slept so hard on her little hand (you can take the measurements and see that it is not mine =) that she made this print ... fingernail marks and all! It stayed there for hours!

irritating Meredith ...

getting into everything ... you can't see in this pic ... but she is chewing on one of the girls little plastic ladybug figurines ... I try hard for our house not to be choking hazard central but she always seems to find that one tiny object lurking under a table or between the couch and chair ...

I will open this fireplace screen if it is the last thing I do ...

her favorite place to crawl ...

I heard her fussing the other day and thought ... good grief!!! what is it NOW?! ... and I went in and she was stuck in her toy bin ... oops ;)

trying to eat the alphabet magnets ... AHHHHHH!

what? ... I wasn't getting into anything!

long time, no post!

2010-10-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Hi! It has been a while. It is, of course, Alan's fault. He went on a trip and took my camera! I don't know what I missed more ...

As for the twins ... not a whole lot has changed. They are cracking me up or ticking me off, daily. They have reached the "but, why?" age and by the end of the day I really need some ear plugs but they also are really fun to have conversations with! They are very loving with Caroline and love to give her kisses. Sometimes when I ask for a hug or kiss they will calmly let me know that they don't have any hugs left ... but they always seem to have a hug for Caroline.

I was trying to get a good photo of the three but Caroline is pretty wiggly these days! She was trying to escape and the twins thought it was hilarious.
Gotta be charmed by the mutual adoration ...

Mmmmmm .... this grass is super delicious ...

Loving to pick flowers in the yard ... I have to work hard to keep them from picking all the neighbors' flowers!

She looks so little in this photo. She has an appointment in a few weeks so I don't know where she is in the ranks but I can say that she is pretty much wearing 12 month clothes though she is only 8 months old. She is wearing some clothes that the twins have pretty recently grown out of! We are going to Disney in a few months and I am wondering if I can get away with saying they are 2 year old triplets so I can get out of buying tickets for the twins ... ha, ha ... those who know me well know that if I did that I would not be able to sleep for weeks ... too much of a rule follower ...

So proud of herself ... she is still pretty much an army crawler though she pops up on the hands and knees sometimes. She loves to climb over things and under things and she is a CHAMP at pulling up now. This was taken when she first started. The twins did not pull up until they were around 10 months or so and they were really good at it when they started ... really cautious ... Caroline is fearless and she pulls up then just lets go! Then, of course, falls on her face and cries. I wish I could follow her around with a pillow all day but sometimes while I am doing something for the twins she sustains a pretty big bonk and I feel terrible! I guess the second kid will have to learn fast! Just today she was standing up at her play table and it was just me and her and she looked at me ... then down ... then at me ... then down ... and I held out my hand to help her and she didn't take it ... then you could see the "bubble" pop up and in it "I'm just gonna do it" and she plopped down from standing to her side then belly ... just sort-of threw herself down ... and it was like that is just what she meant to do ... so I can see that she is trying to learn how to get down ... which will make my life much easier.

pouting ... and new haircuts ... Hannah's ended up a little shorter than Meredith's. Their hair grows pretty fast so I told her to cut it shorter and it was sooooo short! It took me a while to get used to it ... and now it is growing out some ...

The twins are loving to help us cook! It makes it a lot easier for me to cook these days! I just wait for Caroline to go to bed then pop the twins up on the island and they will sit there and have a snack and watch me for as long as it takes! It is so nice! Seems like just yesterday they would get between me and the counter and push me away from it and cry because they did not want me to cook!

photos and firsts

2010-09-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have seen the first day of pre-school for the twins, the first dance class for the twins, the first tooth for Caroline, the first cold for Caroline and Caroline's mobility. Lots of firsts! The twins are doing so well with school that I wonder if I even have the same 2 kids! They seem to really be enjoying it and they go happily and willlingly. A far cry from hauling them screaming down the stairs then holding them down in the carseats while they fought me to get out all the while screaming "I don't want to go!!!! I don't WANT to go to school!!!" Oy! So glad they are liking it this year. As for the dance class, they go once per week to the Little Gym for a combo ballet/tap/gymnastics class. They ask me every day if it is the day for their dance class and they loooove their teacher. It is so cute to see them idolize another big girl (besides me, of course ;) As for Caroline, she had a mean cold and teething all in the same week. Poor thing ... she (and I b/c not only did I have to try and console her all day and night but I also got the cold!) was just miserable! There was no consoling her. It lasted a good week to 10 days but we are both almost better now. I just hope the twins don't get it! She has her first little pearly white ... one of the bottom middle. She is a champ army crawler now and I got a good video but am having a hard time uploading it?! Hopefully I will figure it out in the next few days. She is just all over the place ...

What are you doing over there??

... ahhhh, busted! What is it with babies and electric cords? Or dog food for that matter?!
I had to wake Caroline up to go get the girls from school the other day so I thought I would take a picture since I haven't gotten a sleeping one in a while! Look at those chubby legs!!!

family pic! the twins were grumpy so I couldn't get the pacis out without tears ...

First day of school! I had to snap a quick one while we were getting shoes on.

First day of dance class! I took the girls to a trial class before signing them up for the whole year and I hadn't bought them any dance clothes yet! I did the best I could with what we already had. They look like throwbacks from the 80's but they LOVED the class! They now have leotards and tights and tap and ballet shoes ... the whole she-bang. I will have to get another pic soon!

I got such good pics of Caroline (in the towel) that I was inspired to get some of the twins to replace some baby photos of them in frames. Here are some cute ones I got from our photo shoot (that I got by promising them M&Ms after) ... Meredith

Hannah

... somebody took a silly pill ...

Lake Moultrie

2010-08-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to get this posted for a while but had so, so many pictures to get through. I hope I posted the best ones though I have to admit it was a little overwhelming and I have a little Miss Caroline who is waking at the moment ... we will see how long I can stretch it! My uncles on my Mom's side have a lake house out at Lake Moultrie (about 45 minutes from our house.) The house has been in the family for years and I have been going to it summer after summer since I was possibly younger than even Caroline. It was fun to spend time out there with my side of the family. Grayson seemed to love being around the babies (Sylvi and Caroline) while Landon has always been a favorite with the twins. It reminded me of being out there as a child. Thanks to the Otts for letting us spend some time out there! I will get on with it as she is starting to fuss and the twins are waking now, too!

Brayden and twins feeding ducks

Landon and Grayson giving the girls a ride!

Cute Sylvi!!!

Caroline smiling up at her Aunt Kristi

Do I have something on my head?

In the bounce house ... it was fun for the kids (and Sarah =) for a while but it is a bit hot to use for very long!! I will be glad when Fall comes around and we will likely use it all the time!

the Finley girls and Whitaker boys feeding ducks

Landon and twins catching up on some TV

Poor Brayden spent a lot of the time under the weather but here he is having fun playing hungry hippo with the twins ...

the boys did a little fishing and here are their crickets they used for bait ... all the kids were pretty interested in the crickets ... however, I was not interested in the crickets and as soon as Grayson learned that little fact he got lots of pleasure out of chasing me around with them =)

We did not spend any nights out there as we are so close and space was limited and I am chicken to try and handle my 3 little ones overnight away from home by myself ... therefore many car naps were had that week!

The first day we spent out there, Caroline took a 4 hour nap! Unheard of for her ... or any of my kids (or probably anyone else's kids for that matter)!!
Hannah could probably skip naps without too much trouble ... but Meredith, she is like her Dad ... she needs her sleep ... she and baby doll (whose name is also Meredith =) took a nap the second day we were out there ...

One of the rainy days during the week, we took all the kids to the Aquarium ... my sister has great pics of all the kids getting their faces painted that I will have to get at some point ... these are the only ones I had ... yet another car nap ... Here is Meredith ...

and Hannah ...

girls will be girls!

2010-08-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

All of the girls are really fun right now. Three years old seems to agree with the twins and they seem to enjoy being a little more grown up. They are playing well together and are finally wanting to learn how to be more independent. They are trying to dress themselves and they put their own shoes on and even occasionally we head out without the paci and blankie! We really have much fewer meltdowns and fights than we used to. It has been a good few weeks and I really hope it continues! Caroline had a fussy few weeks at the beginning of July but is doing MUCH better now and is really back to her normal self. She had her 6 month check-up this week and she had a big growth spurt so maybe that was the cause of the fussies! She is now 75% in height at 26.25 inches and 40% in weight at 15 pounds 2 ounces. She is sitting pretty well though she is a little too "busy" to want to sit still. She is a little mobile and scoots herself around on her belly a bit though traditional crawling may be a month or two away. She is a champ roller and it is really fun to watch her play. She is doing great with her solid foods and I started her on Cheerios this week. She concentrates so hard on getting them in her mouth. It is too, too cute! Well, I will let the pictures do the talking ...

Sweet Caroline ...

So, I took Caroline to the doctor a few days ago and left Alan with the twins ... well, he is playing with PlayDoh with Hannah and realizes that Meredith is no where to be found. He went all around the house looking for her and found her asleep in the chair in our bedroom ... now, this would NEVER have happened on my watch ... putting herself down for a nap ... must be nice to be Daddy!

Cluck, cluck Hannah is a chicken! This is part of a fun art set the twins got for their birthday.

Oooo, oooo, ahhh, ahhh Meredith is a monkey ...

The girls love to help me with my herb garden ... we check on them everyday!

It has been so hot here, we have been playing on the upstairs porch a lot ... it is nice and shady and breezy up there ... we have 3 kid rocking chairs that were a gift from my parents when we moved into the house ... well, of course, the twins always want the same one ... sometimes it works out like this and sometimes not ... shortly after this photo was taken M scooted H out of the chair and a fit was had ...

Caroline wasn't quite digging the rocking chair yet ...

Twirling twins ...

Arabesque!

Me and my mini-me ...

you turn around just for a minute and ...

the twins feeding their baby dolls ... so funny how much they copy me ... Hannah even walks around with ponytail holders around her wrist like I always do!

Triple decker ... (obviously they don't really sleep like this ... they were playing and I popped Caroline on top just for fun)

birthday!!!

2010-08-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy lately that my blogging has taken a hit for two reasons ... one for being busy and two for having so many pictures to go through that I get overwhelmed at which ones to post! As for general news, the twins are doing great with their potty training and do really great all day but they are still in diapers for naps and nighttime and probably will be for a while. At least I can now send them to school on the 24th with confidence that they will be OK and not embarass themselves with an accident. Speaking of school, they start in a few weeks and I have also signed them up for an art class. I am excited for them and think they will really enjoy it. I hope it goes better than last year! We have been talking it up and they seem excited to go back to school. I will start with the twins' birthday and post a few more posts over the next few days. The girls had a fun birthday weekend with both sets of Grandparents in town and their little party at Gymboree.

What is this squash crap? Where is MY cake?!

Bubbles!!
M's toosh and H's face

Meredith

Hannah

We celebrated the girls actual birthday at home ... Alan was off work and we met his parents out for dinner at On The Border as the girls love mexican food! We got them this great little bounce house and a few other little things ...

Elefun!!!

princess outfits from Grammy & Grandaddy

hangin' with Coop and hangin' out on the potty ...

2010-07-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

We have been home most of this week as I am trying to potty train the twins. Well, more like they are training me ... training me to buy them lots of toys and candy to get them to sit on the potty. It is hard for a control freak like me (there, I said it) to not have any control ... guess what? ... you absolutely cannot MAKE a kid pee pee! Believe me, I have tried! I have cleaned up WAY more pee pee off the floor than anything else this week but I am determined to at least give it an honest effort as the twins have to be trained in order to attend their 3 year old preschool come August 23rd. I have tried bribery with food, with trinkets, with the promise of a new toy, with all kinds of cool big girl panties and the only thing that MAY be working is a sticker chart that I made tonight. If they get enough stickers by the end of the day, they get a fun little trinket (sparkly nail polish, little purse, lipgoss, etc ...) This potty training thing is costing me a fortune! Well, costing Alan a fortune ;) As for Caroline, she is coming right along. She has had a good bit of fussy time in the last week or so ... I won't be surprised if I see a little tooth soon (or she could quite possibly be tired of sitting in the bathroom watching the twins try to potty ... I know I am!) She is beginning to sit and she is getting to be a champion roller ... which is fun as the twins never really rolled around much. She is doing great with her little baby food. She is very much in a Mommy phase and it is almost comical how much she will be freaking out while someone else holds her and I take her and BOOM happy in an instant ... it is a little of an ego booster, to be honest ;)

Caroline has discovered Cooper and loves to "play" with him ... and he loves to bring her his toys as if she could play tug of war with him ... it is fun to see her laugh at him!

... she is beginning to be able to sit for a few seconds ... with the twins ... as soon as it was a few seconds it felt like within days they were sitting like champs ... she will just sort of fall on her face and not let it phase her ...
... she will also occasionally draw up her knees like she is trying to crawl and she can scoot along a teeny bit ... mobility seems just around the corner ...
One of the twins favorite things to do these days is go out after a rain and find the snails ... they will literally find 30 snails and cart them around and "name" them and let them crawl all over their arms ... gross ...

... another favorite is to play Mommy and baby ... Hannah had her "purse" (a little bag she filled with blocks) and was going to go take her "baby" (aka Meredith) for a walk ...

I will try just about anything to get the girls to try to potty ... everyone says just to wait until they are ready and they will just train themselves ... well, no one tells you what to do if you can't wait for them (as in they have to be trained for pre-school, which I really find unfair ...) We are all getting tired of talking about potty! I try and make potty time fun but feel that my kids may be 5 and still expect me to come in and party with them while they go potty ... hopefully, once they "get it," we can move past the painting of nails and watching of DVDs while sitting on the throne ... here is Meredith painting my nails ... she really didn't do all that horribly!

... and Hannah painting Grandmama's toes ...

... they look excited, eh? More like "OK I will sit on the darned potty just so you quit buggin' me!!!" Meredith actually goes pee pee in the potty a little over half of the time ... Hannah has never gone in the potty! AHHHH!!!!

One of the things derailing our progress is Caroline ... the twins don't want to be "big girls" and go on the "big girl potty" ... they want to be "babies like Caroline" ... "Mommy, I am your baby, too ... I don't want to learn how to potty" ... I caught Caroline "in the act" today and thought maybe I could use her to my advantage ... the twins got a kick out of Caroline making poopy on the potty!

busy girls and solids ...

2010-06-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

We have had quite a busy few weeks. I have tried to finish up this blog post now for about two weeks. Life is getting tough with one kid on a sleep schedule of bed at 7PM and up at 5:30 or 6AM and the others of bed at 9PM or 9:30PM (because they still need a nap.) It doesn't leave very much time for things other than kids and house cleaning. I do get an occasional simultaneous nap which is great. The twins are pretty good about playing nicely together and that is a big help, too. We have been busy with Alan's family in town a few weeks ago for a week and then my family in town for the fourth. It is so great to be back in SC and close to family so the girls can see everyone more often. The twins have really taken to their grandparents since the birth of Caroline (and Mommy not always being available) and have finally gotten pretty happy to be around any family whereas in the past they were really, really shy around aunts, uncles & cousins. We are lucky to have such great and loving families. I actually have several more pictures that I would love to post since I began this post but in the spirit of trying to finish this thought before making it more complex ... I will save them for the next post! Mostly they are of Caroline rolling and LOVING Cooper ... she thinks he is hysterical!

I was really hesitant to start Caroline on solid foods since she is likely to be my last baby ... I wanted to "baby" her as long as possible. However, there was never a kid more ready to be a big girl than Caroline. The day I decided to start her was the day that I was pouring milk for the twins and Caroline grabbed the cup out of my hands and tried to drink it. I think she wants to be like her sisters sooooo badly and seems to love to sit in her highchair and eat lunch at the same time as the "big girls." So now she is on cereal and she has tried several baby foods. She loves bananas and squash just like the twins did at her age. She does well with her baby food but still loves to nurse so all is well.

Cousins!! Meredith, Hannah, Kate, Jackson & Nick ...

... and Aunt Tricia and Caroline ...

My little Picassos

They love to paint ... it is the only time they will let me put piggytails in!

Meredith ...

Hannah ...

They also love to help me cook ... here they were helping by putting frozen fishsticks on a baking sheet ... gourmet, eh?! My friend Stephanie gave them these sweet little outfits! Too cute!

long time, no post!

2010-06-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

I have now decided that this 3 kids under 3 years old was maybe not the best laid plan. Not that I would change it but it certainly does not leave much time for anything else! I told myself I would do this tonight though even though I will regret it at 6AM when little miss Caroline decides to grace me with her awake and happy squealing presence. The twins have been such nap stallers that it was pushing bedtime waaaaay too late. Therefore, I have started putting them for naps only every other day and only sometimes does this nap correlate with one of Caroline's. So, needless to say, sometimes I feel like my head may pop off ... but for the most part, I remain in one piece. Caroline continues to be the sweetest baby ever ... she smiles all the time and giggles when something strikes her as funny ... she was still 50th% for weight and height at 13 pounds 4 oz and 24 inches tall at her last appointment. Her MD fears she may have a little torticollis so I have to do the same neck stretching exercises I had to do with Meredith ... kills me to hold her down and make her cry ... and she always looks at me like "WHY did you DO that??" after I am done ... kills me. The twins are ... well, they are them ... and as the ones who know them know that means they are wonderful and terrible all at the same time!!! They want what they want and they want it five minutes ago and heaven forbid if you don't give them what they want ... but they are also so sweet, loving, and funny! I could go on and on with the conversations we have ... but I will get on with pictures instead ... as they can say 1000 words, right!

They generally really love having a baby sister and say "she's so cute" all the time! Here, Caroline is getting double "bee bee" kisses!

Three tooshies. Speaking of, my Mom and I tried potty training last weekend and I have decided they aren't ready ... they can do all the "cues" ... like can pull their own pants up and down and etc ... but they have no interest. When I was trying to talk them into it, I asked Hannah ... "isn't it so much more comfortable to wear big girl panties instead of smooshy diapers ... do you WANT to wear icky, stinky, smooshy diapers?" and she said "no, I want to wear dry diapers" ... well, I guess she got me there. It was just too much of a battle of wills ... so I am going to wait a little longer ... until I have more patience or they have more desire!
Hi Caroline!

I just can't resists taking pics! she loves to eat her clothes and hands ... if I have her in a dress, the whole front of her dress gets chewed on all day.

She is starting to try and roll over. She can go tummy to back but now tries the other way ... she isn't quite there but it is so cute to watch her try.

Who? Me?? I wasn't drooling!

She likes the jumper pretty well ...

Not the best idea ... I thought, Oh, I have this box of packing peanuts ... why don't I let the twins play in them while I put Caroline for nap ... made them promise to keep the peanuts in the pool ... yes Mommy ... we will keep the peanuts in the pool ... Well, the peanuts were all over the house in a matter of the 5 minutes it took me to put Caroline down ... turns out that 2.5 year olds have no self control ... who knew?!

Just another cute one of the kiddos in the same bed ... if they were awake Meredith would have been freaking out at the mere thought of having Hannah's foot on her but I guess all is fair in love and sleeping ... this is when Hannah's rash from the Amoxcycillin was still bad ... it took it about a month to go away. Also, gotta love the outfits! Unless they look cute, just always assume they dressed themselves!

My parents were down for Memorial Day and we took the 3 to the beach ... it was a madhouse on the beach ... lots of people ... but it was still fun!

Hannah

MeredithCaroline and my Dad I have learned never to get rid of baby toys ... that they can always be re-purposed (did I just make that word up? Seems like I have heard it before but it doesn't look right) ... Anyway, this is the blow up infant tub ... and now the most fought over "toy" in my house right now ...The twins did this themselves and called it their "ark" ... as in Noah's Ark ... and I thought ... well, how bright ... they have two of every animal ... too cute!My Dad planned a surprise 60th birthday party for my Mom and we all had a fun weekend together ... doesn't happen nearly often enough! But it is hard with 7 kids 7 and under! Here is my Dad, two of my girls, and two of my sister's boys

Sorry, Alan, had to do it ... I guess this is what happens when you have girls ... you start wearing Hula Skirts and doing ballet moves ... My Dad and my kids at the catered bday dinner

The whole Wright/Whitaker/Finley Family ...

Mama, I loved this picture of you ... Happy Birthday ... what an amazing woman to learn how to be a mother from ... how did we get so lucky ...Meredith reading a book to CarolineHere are some pics of Caroline's room for those (like Granny ;) who can't travel but want to see where she spends most of her time ...

funny girls

2010-04-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

We have had lots going on with getting a driveway paved, getting our window treatments in and dealing with a PCN allergy ... I will be glad for this weekend when Alan is actually NOT on call and hopefully no workmen will be here and no surprise visits to the Pediatrician. Whew! Here are some cute pics of my funny girls.

Meredith "reading" to Caroline

Caroline is getting better and better at lifting her head ... she actually tolerates some time on her tummy now.
The girls are still fighting naps by having all out parties in their room ... this is what I found a few days ago upon waking them up ... hmmm ... where was Hannah?

Ah ha ... here she is! Look at this mess! There were diapers, bottles of lotion, baby powder, diaper cream, torn pages out of books, sippy cups, etc ... all kinds of junk in there with them ..

Not that they seemed to mind! Too cute ... this is the first time (that I know of) that they ended up in the same bed ... probably will be the first of many.

They have seen me pumping for Caroline ... I was in the kitchen the other day and hear the machine turn on and walked into the family room to this ...

They took turns "making milk" ... Meredith was "making milk" out of her belly button ;) Hannah, at least, knew where to hold the tubing!

haircuts and Strawberry Festival

2010-04-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

We had a good week last week with Alan being off the first part of the week for some vacation days then the Finley's here this weekend. We took the girls to get their hair cut again last week because their Dad thought it looked scraggly. I liked it long but I like the new 'do also so it is a win, win. They don't seem to care either way at this point though I'm sure they will have an opinion on it as soon as they know what I want (and they will want the opposite just to irk me.) They had a blast at the Strawberry Festival though we had a few little outbursts from Meredith. Hannah was a dear and had so much fun even though SHE is the one with her very first double ear infections! Her first round of antibiotics ... almost age 3 ... well, I guess that is pretty good.

The girls in their outfits de jour and Caroline in whatever I want to put her in ;)

Ah, the paci ... my best friend and worst enemy ...
Dancing on the stage at the Festival

Bribery with food no longer works very well for these two ... they are girly girls, though, so my Mom had bought them some lipgloss and I decided to hang on to it as ammunition one day ... well, we cracked them open at the doctor's office the other day when we went to investigate the "boo boos" in Hannah's ears (that is what she was saying ... she had boo boo's in her ears ... and yep, she sure did!) It also came in handy at the Festival as one little Meredith was a sour puss for a while there ... As you can see here, she got over it and got in a good mood ... lipgloss in hand and dirt all over the face!

Caroline enjoyed the Festival, too ...

I was so impressed with the girls on this little train ... I swore I would have the kids crying for Mommy the minute it took off but they had a blast and Hannah cried only when it was time to get off! She wanted to go again! Instead, she went on a little car ride all by herself (while her sister threw a fit because she wanted to go on a ride she was too little to go on) and I was so super proud of Hannah for being a big girl!!!

Here, you can see their new 'do from the back ... just a little shorter is all ...

Here is M picking strawberries ... both girls kept saying how much fun they were having picking strawberries! We went home with an obscene amount of strawberries (as well as an obscene amount of dirt on our hands, faces, and tooshes) ... Alan made strawberry ice cream, I made a strawberry pie and Alan made 7 jars of strawberry jam (yes, 7 jars!) and we still have a whole bowl of berries left!

Hannah ...

So, the girls sometimes nap and sometimes have a party in their room ... either way, they know they are expected to stay in their room for a few hours in the afternoon ... one day last week, I go to get them up and find this ... all the letters off their wall in a row, all the diapers turned the same way in a path from H's bed to M's and all the books spread out all over the floor ... ahhhhh, at least it wasn't crayon all over the wall right, Mom? I swear I will never hear the end of that one! Anyway, so now, I am always a little curious as to what I will see when I open the door ...

bunch of pictures ...

2010-04-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy few weeks with Alan's side of the family in town, some Atlanta friends that came to visit and my Mom in town. It is always nice to have the company. The girls are all doing well. The twins have had a bit of a cold (yes, again!!) and it just made them extremely grumpy but Meredith seems to be better and Hannah is in the middle of it now. Hopefully Caroline and I will not get it. The twins are still very into dressing themselves and Hannah is obssessed with wearing her PJs. I make her put on clothes to go anywhere then the second she is home she wants back in her PJs. She changes clothes at least 6 times a day. Drives me up a wall. Most of the time they are cracking me up with whatever they are saying or doing but our lives seem very polar ... they are either cracking me up or they are pitching fits. I guess that is why it is called the terrible twos! Caroline is doing amazingly well. She is sleeping through the night from about 9 or 10 until 7. She really doesn't ever fuss unless she is tired, hungry or bored. She loves to be busy when she is awake ... loves to be talked to or put with bright things close enough for her to see. She LOVES to stand up and she loves to lay on her back and kick like a mad woman! She is just such a joy. I will get on with some pictures.

Caroline ... I guess maybe because the girls were preemies and seemed so floppy for so long ... I swear, to me, she looks like a 6 month old here ... she has such great head control! She went to the Pediatrician a few weeks ago for her 2 month and was 11 pounds 1 ounce and 21.5 inches tall. 50% for weight and 25% for height. Everything was great! Her doctor told me she could have 10 just like her at home! I will pretend that my kid really is super sweet and that she does not say that to everyone ;)

Post-milk snuggle
She loves her bath! She will hang out in there for half an hour!

One of my friends from ATL has identical twins two weeks younger than mine. Last week she brought them for a visit. I loved our time together and wish I would have taken more pictures. Her girls are so fun and so bright. Just a joy to be around! It was nice, too, to be able to hang out with Steph after they all went to bed!

Easter bunny!!

The girls are really sweet with Caroline and seem to really love being big sisters. Earlier tonight, Hannah was upset because she wanted to see her "baby sissy" but she was sleeping. Here, they are talking to her and she was smiling at them ... which she does a lot. I think the love is mutual!

Sacked out with Grammy ... I usually swaddle her because she sleeps better that way, but I love it when she will sleep unswaddled ... I love it when babies throw their arms up like this. Someone (Jen?) once told me that babies sleep like that when they feel secure and happy ... I hope she feels that way!

The girls' Aunt Sara is such a fun aunt and probably a much more creative and fun Mom than I am! She bought this adorable egg dying kit and let my girls pretty much take over! They had so much fun with it ... thanks Sara!!

Hannah ... and above is Meredith

Sara and the girls (her little one was napping and at the age where she most likely would not want to sit and do anything ... she wants to go, go, go!!)

getting started ...

Usually Caroline LOVES to stand up ... here, I think she was tired of me taking her picture and may have been ready for a nap ... it is my only picture of her standing though ... and I think the fuss face is kind-of cute ;)

With her sweet sister Hannah. At this particular moment in time, Meredith was "not in the mood" to have her picture taken (these are her words)

case in point ... the fuss face is not nearly as cute on a 2 year old!

Here, Caroline was not in the mood =)Smiles!

I came down from putting the twins to bed to this ...

Yes, they picked out these outfits ... down to the shoes and bows! They love to twirl like ballerinas and they call these their "ballet shoes" for some reason. They love the Little Einsteins and the only thing I can figure is maybe these look like June's shoes on that show (she is the character who loves to dance).

Hannah ...

Lap full of love! I just love having a baby who can just sort-of drift off to sleep when she is tired! What?! You had to work HARD to get the twins to go to sleep at this age!!

Decorating Easter cookies with Grammy

puddles and smiles

2010-03-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

Things are going well here. Meredith and Hannah were sick last week but finally over it this week but Caroline now has it. Stinks to have germy older sibs! She is handling it OK but it is so sad to hear her pathetic hoarse cry and to watch her have a coughing fit then get this "what the heck did I just do" look on her face. She is smiling a lot now and that is a good feeling. She will even smile at the girls when they get close enough for her to see them. Well, I will get on with pics as I hear some 2 year olds getting up ...

I guess the girls got tired of waiting for me to "put the baby down" (that is what they say when they want to sit in my lap or want me to play with them) and decided to find a place in my lap that they could fit ... worked pretty well ...

tummy time ... getting better every day! She has a concentration face on here ...
smiles ...

more smiles ...

the time change threw us off and so I have had to wake the girls some ... thought I would get some sleeping pics of them ... Meredith ...

Hannah ... I think this is how they must always sleep (H on her tummy and M on her back) because ever since they were babies M always wakes up with crazy hair and H does not.

yet another paci lover ...

We get this puddle right outside of our garage and the girls love to play in it ...

future pitcher?

one coming and one going ...Meredith

Hannahpicking up rocks and dirt to toss in ...

indoor fun and outside ... finally!

2010-03-13T07:16:00.000-08:00

We have had to be creative the last few weeks with all of us having some cabin fever. I even let them paint inside ... am I crazy or what!? We made a deal that paint stayed ON the sheet and they did pretty well though I think I had a few mini-strokes. The weather is getting nicer which makes us all happy! It is amazing how much happier I am when it is nice enough to get outside daily! I spent the better part of the morning cleaning off my porch and the better part of a nap a few days ago cleaning off my screened porch and I can't wait to be able to use them again! The girls have had a terrible cold the past few days and yesterday was particularly hard but Alan has a few days off at the start of next week so hopefully the girls will get better soon and we can all enjoy some time together. Here are a few pics from the week ...

... and Caroline sleeps through it all ... no, not really, she has been pretty awake and lively during the days. She is a morning kind-of gal and I get tons of good smiles in the AM and then she is a bit fussy in the evenings ... but I think that is pretty normal baby behavior. She is doing well at night. We can usually put her down between 9:30 and 11 and she sleeps until 5 and sometimes even 6 or 7! I don't know what "normal" babies do (as opposed to preemies) but I think that is pretty darned good. Days are tough because she is a cat napper which doesn't give me much time alone with the twins but at least I get enough sleep to deal with it all! I need to take some awake photos! 7 weeks old today ... hard to believe ... she is starting to thin out (with the hair ... not the cheeks and thighs =) but she still has more than the twins did at this age and I am starting to think that she will keep the hair on top and keep the dark color ... we'll see! She has this beautiful soft, blemish-free skin and I think we may be out of the woods with the baby acne as the Ped said usually they would get it by 6 weeks if they were going to (listen to me ... "they" ... I still think in terms of twins ...) All-in-all she is doing so well and is such a sweet addition ... the girls love to give her hugs and kisses and when she is up on my shoulder "gummimg" me like babies do they say "look, she is loving on Mommy's shoulder" ... it is so cute! They seem to love being big sisters most of the time. I am so proud of them.

We had a little playdate with one of the boys that goes to MMO with the girls ... how cute is he?! His Dad is the one that is the photographer and you can tell he knows what to do when there is a camera around! The girls, of course, picked out their outfits (what is it with those PJ shirts, they want to wear them everyday?!) ... including the shoes which is almost the funniest part ...

They love any kind of art project as I have mentioned before ... if anyone needs refrigerator art, let me know =)

Indoor finger painting ... these are meant to sort-of tell a story ... I remember a friend of mine (hi, Amy) saying this about her twins when they were dying Easter eggs. I asked the girls to put their hands in the paint b/c I wanted to get their hand prints ... Meredith was all about it and it became a fun thing for her to play all in her paint, Hannah, however became pretty upset that her hands were purple!

M-woo hoo! H-what?!

H-Mommy, I still don't know about this ...

M-woo hoo!!!

M-sissy, isn't this fun?! H-oh my goodness, my hands are purple!!

M-woo hoo ... look, Mommy, my hands are GREEN! H-I am really still concerned ... Meredith turned the painting into fingerpainting (they had brushes, too) and having fun and Hannah seriously just stood there and looked at her hands until we got in the bath and washed it all off ... so funny!

can't stop taking pictures!!

2010-03-04T12:53:00.000-08:00

We are all dong well! This is week 2 of being solo with the 3 girls. It is going well. The baby has to cry sometimes while I read stories to the twins or dry their hair but for the most part, life is good! Caroline is a bit in the middle of the "six week peak" of fussiness but she is still such a sweet baby! Speaking of, she is waking right now so I will cut out ... here are a few pics!

Tummy time!!

Here, Hannah is getting her "boogies"
Apparently, the twins thought she needed cleaning ... poor Caroline ... I guess she will learn early that getting messed with by your older sisters is just part of life!

Moral support ... tummy time is tough!

This is Meredith giving her sister some love ...

We are to the age where we like to pick out our own outfits ... cute, huh? At least they match!

All the chicks ... this is my SIL and niece Sylvia ...

Ry holding a sleeping Sylvia ...

How cute is she?!

Another sleepy smile from Caroline ... hope she is dreaming about something good!

one month old!

2010-02-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

We had Caroline's one month appointment today. She is doing great. She is 9 pounds 9 ounces and 21 inches. 50% for weight and height. If she keeps in the 50 and the twins stay in the less than 5% then they may be mistaken for triplets in a year or so! Since I clearly don't take nearly enough photos of my kids (ha, ha), I had a friend's husband (who is a photographer) come take some pictures of the girls a few days ago. If they are not copyrighted or whatever, I will post some when I decide which ones I want to buy!

Here is Hannah being silly ... I asked her to smile and she did everything but ... Meredith was much more cooperative (for the moment, anyway=) ...

I keep trying to get that cute tummy sleeping photo that so many people have ... but, like the twins, she does not really enjoy being on her tummy all that much. This is good as it got ... these are her "one month" pictures ... as if I needed an excuse to take pictures of her!
She is a very smiley newborn ... I know they aren't true "social" smiles yet but I like to think they are ... she has her Grandmama Wright's dimple ...

... and just because babies are so cute when they are sleeping!

Caroline, Caroline and more Caroline and my fun 2 year olds!

2010-02-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I need to make this quick so I will cut a lot of my normal chatter ... Caroline is doing well ... she is becoming more aware (which means also more fussy) but she pretty easy to soothe and does still have her moments of being relatively "easy" as far as newborns go. She is a champion eater and already nursing in like 10-15 minutes flat ... it was still taking the twins an hour at this age. She has been rolling from her tummy to back since she was 3 weeks old and already has some impressive head control ... this full-term baby thing is great! She was 7 pounds 11 oz at her last bilirubin check which was when she was about 2 weeks old so I think she will be my little chunky monkey. She has her month appointment on Thursday so we will see how she is in the ranks by then. The girls are doing better with the change. They like it when she is awake and looking at them. They like to take baby wipes and clean her hands and face. They like to "give" her stickers (by putting them on her clothes) and involve her in their stories they like to tell (which are constant ... they are a running dialogue of chatter ... wonder where they get that from? =). They are getting to be more fun and love to play tea party, follow the leader, hide and seek, they love any kind of craft (especially if it involves stickers or glue sticks), they love to "twirl like ballerinas" and to generally be girly with dancing around the house and carrying their purses and putting on dress up clothes and Mommy's lip gloss. They are going great in school and recently were the only ones in the whole class who earned a sticker for the day (if they are behaved, they get a sticker on their hands when they leave.) They crack me up daily with the things they say and the way they say it and with their general silly selves. They make me want to scream sometimes, too, but will turn around and do something endearing just before I decide to give them away ;) Here are some photos of the past few weeks ...

These are from the photo shoot for the announcement picture ... I just took them myself but thought some of them turned out pretty good ...

I did warn, Caroline, Caroline and more Caroline ... it is just so hard to stop myself from taking pictures of her ... I am trying to savor this age as now I know how fast it goes by =(

Alan likes to tell the girls he is going to eat their noses and they will run around and scream "No, Daddy, don't eat my nose!!!" and he will chase them around the house ... well, I guess Caroline is trying to save her own nose here ... 3rd kid learns early ...

Just another cute one

The girls got some mini m&ms in their Valentine's Day treat bag at school ... well, here, Meredith is putting all her baby critters in their "spot" (they have spots they have to sit in at school and when we play school they tell me "Mommy, don't get out of your spot!") and giving them each an m&m =)

Meredith

They have decided that Hannah's favorite color is pink and Meredith's is purple ... so I found these cute skirts and couldn't resist. The shoes just top off the whole outfit here.

Hannah found my sunglasses in my bag and walked up to me with them on her head like this ... so sassy!

Hannah is a little more into the baby than Meredith at this point ... M is getting there though ... here is H giving her a kiss

setbacks and transitions ...

2010-02-05T06:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my wonderful husband who is such a great Dad, I have some time to update this blog! I hope to keep it up now that I am a Mommy to 3. Alan has pretty much taken on the twins and let me rest and recover and take care of Caroline. The twins are doing OK. They are very gentle and generally interested in Caroline (love to pat her head and say "its OK ... she's OK now ..." if she was crying and is not anymore.) They think it is too funny when she burps, poops, etc ... They, however, do not much like it when it is time for her to eat. All the sudden they want in my lap and nothing else will do! They are getting a little better about this every day. They are funny in their limited understanding of things and trying to put what is going on into their "world." They thought that since they put some bandaids on Mommy's boo-boo then I would be better and able to carry them again. Unfortunately they don't really understand the concept of time (as in "it will be a few more weeks before Mommy can carry you") and it makes me sad to think that maybe they think I will never be able to pick them up again. Anyway, the main issue with their transition has been picking fights with each other. I think this is their way of acting out and either they are becoming sassy, talking-back 3 year olds before their time or they are just trying to figure out how to become "OK" with our new situation. Either way, it is frustrating and heartbreaking for me. I feel like half of their days, some days, are spent in time out or crying because I had to take this or that away. I guess it is all part of it and I hope my sweet, sweet girls come back soon! As for me, to make a long and messy story short, I had to be readmitted just for the day for an outpatient D&C due to some retained "stuff" in the uterus. I had been having lots of abdominal pain and spiking fevers and the way my body finally "told" us what was going on was to have a really frightening hemmorhage in my kitchen! Yikes! All is well that ends well and we are all home now. Caroline came home on a bili blanket but she went up and up with her bilirubin ... then ...YAY ... started to come down. She is off the blanket now and I am off the narcotics ;) That glass of wine last night was yummy! Here are some random pics from the week ...

Mer Bear and Caroline ... a friend gave the girls their big sis shirts and Caroline the stuffed doggy ... Hannah put the stuffed doggy in her chair and Meredith patted her on the head ...

Meredith being her silly and cute self ...
Bribery ice cream and TV ... Mommy should have a new baby more often!
Hannah

Meredith

Hannah ... TV and ice cream coma ...

Not getting anything outta those little girl!!

My little "glow worm"
(thanks to Amy and John for the term)

with Aunt Kristi and Uncle Lee

On my super soft snuggle blanket from Aunt Tricia!

Still glowin' ...One of the causes of many an arguement ... the girls L-O-V-E this chair that their Aunt Sara let us borrow for Caroline ... Sometimes they play well (here, Hannah is rocking her "baby" Meredith) but other times they just both want to be in there waaaaaay too bad to share! Its hard being 2, eh?

Hannah checking out her baby sister ... it is funny ... sometimes they will pat my tummy and say "she came out!"

going home!

Lucky for us, so far, we don't see this too often ... Caroline is a good baby so far. I will give it a month before I decide if she is chill or just still a sleepy newborn! I am a seasoned enough parent to know that the jury is still out ... we really don't see this very often unless she is hungry, tired or needs to burp ... well, speaking of ... little miss is hungry and I hear the troops coming down the stairs! When it rains it pours =)

an eventful week!

2010-01-25T09:35:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of a new arrival, we bought a fancy new camera and have been playing around with it a good bit lately. I thought I would post a few photos of me and the twins in our last few days of there being just three girls in the house. Here is Hannah being Hannah. She loves to be with me and do whatever I am doing so I am introducing her to the salad spinner. They became fast friends.

Again, playing with the camera ... but I figured Cooper has not had a day in the spotlight in a while ... so, here he is!
Here are the three of us gals the day before our family of 4 became a family of 5.
Here is Meredith being silly and wanting to play in the baby's chair. Silly girl.
So, onto our biggest news. As most know, I was scheduled for a repeat C-Section on Tuesday the 26th but didn't quite make it in time. I ended up going into labor on Friday night and went to the hospital Saturday the 23rd and had the baby by C-Section that night at 7:49 PM. Needless to say, it was a very long day!! The reason for the C-Section was only because I had one with the girls and was too chicken to try for a VBAC. However, she was lodged way down in my pelvis and sideways (at incision, the first thing they saw was her ear) so the OB said I would likely have had a really hard time pushing her out anyway. I am glad I went with the planned C-Section. The hours of labor pains I had were not fun and I have lots of respect for people who do natural childbirth! Since I did go through the contractions and she was way down in the pelvis, she came into the world quite bruised and swollen. In the past few days she has just looked better and better. She is jaundiced, however, so has not been able to stay in the room with us. She has been allowed out of her "tanning bed" only for breastfeeding then back to the lights! It is hard for me to give her back but I know that the longer she is under the lights, the sooner she can go home! We are both still in the hospital at this point, but anticipate discharge tomorrow (Tuesday the 26th.) We named her Caroline Avery. She will go by Caroline. She was 7 pounds and 5 ounces and 19 inches long. So basically she looks like the girls did when they were like 3 months old =) I am feeling pretty good as long as I take my meds on time. I'm sure in a few weeks, I will be as good as new! Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers I'm sure you have been sending my way and I can't wait to have more pictures and stories to share. Here is our first meeting ...
The girls came up to see us yesterday and did fairly well. Meredith was a little freaked out and didn't really know what to think of Mommy in the hospital bed and the new little being that I just happened to be nursing when they got there. Hannah was more interested in touching her and looking at her (as you can see here) but was still a bit jealous when Mommy's lap was not hers and hers alone. She had a tough time leaving but my Mom and Dad and Alan say she is doing pretty well at home and knows that Mommy will be home when her "big boo boo" is better.
Here is our first family photo! I think I will always have quite a full lap which is actually pretty great!
As you can see here, Caroline has very dark hair. The girls didn't have much hair when they were born and what they had was a light brown. You can see what happened with theirs and I wonder if Caroline will favor me a little more and have the dark hair. Time will tell!
Here is a close-up of her dark hair ... the photo may be a little PG-13 but at least no parts are showing! I felt it was pretty safe =) She is a good breastfeeder though a little sleepy. I'm sure she will get more efficient with time! Feeding her is night and day from what it was like to feed two preemies at the same time! Now I just have to figure out how to feed her and entertain two 2.5 year olds at the same time!
peek-a-boo ... she has had some wide-eyed moments of late but she is still usually newborn sleepy. Her eyes are the same murky blue that the girls had so I suspect hazel or brown eyes for her.
She still has some bruising and swelling between her eyes and her little nose is still a little puffy but everyday it diminishes a little ... this was yesterday. I love the squishy cheeks!
This is from this morning and she is making faces at her Dad ...
... and at her Granddadddy
My parents are here helping with the girls and they and Alan have been switching off so that I always have company and the girls are always taken care of.
Here is little Miss in her tanning bed. This is where she has spent all her time since birth minus her feedings. It is a little lonely in my room without her and I am hoping she is too little and unaware to feel the same way.

Christmas and such ...

2010-01-05T11:08:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We had a great time with family. I'm sad to say that I am not, however, very good at taking photos when I have the opportunity. I think I get too caught up in taking care of the girls and making sure everything is just how I want it (can anyone say "control freak"??) and then the holiday is over and I have no photos to show from it. I did get a few of the girls and a few of some of the things we did around the holidays. The girls seemed to enjoy Christmas but maybe they are still a bit young to be able to handle all the excitement. They enjoyed opening a few gifts but then were "done" so the 3 day present opening extraveganza was a lot for them to handle. They are doing well now, though, and have really enjoyed all of the gifts. They went back to school today and yep, cried and cried. After I picked them up, they kept saying "we should cry at home, not at school" ... hmmm ... wonder who tells them to cry at home? Thanks a lot ;) ! I guess when you deal with kids like mine who have pretty tough separation issues you try anything. Hopefully in a few weeks they will get back into the swing of things and only cry when I drop them off. I have learned not to expect them not to cry at all. New kid is doing fine. I have an appointment tomorrow and hopefully all will be well and we will still be set for C-Section on 1/27. In preparation for her, we got a new car and we have unearthed the infant carseat. Her room is ready except for a few things that need to come in the mail. I will post pictures of it soon. My bag is half-packed ... and I'm sure there are a ton of other things that I need to do but I am feeling like we are getting there as far as being ready for the chaos that being post-op with a new baby and 2 two-year olds will bring. Well, I will get on with the pictures as I posted a bunch ...

This was before Christmas ... do you think we were in need of some new toys? They actually still love to play with the spices. They are absolutely OBSESSED with playing with a bunch of the same thing ... they love little balls of PlayDoh, to play with their snacks such as GoldFish or Cheerios, the letters off of their art easel they got from Grammy, their pretend food they got from Grandmama ... they will empty and fill all of the possible containers they can find or fashion from something with a different intended purpose ... what is with that? Here, they were putting all the spices in a line and telling them to stay there until they call their name ... something they got from school, no doubt ... oh, and they did have dresses over their little outfits here ... this was post-nap and the dresses never got put back on. They remind me of myself when I was little and doing ballet and always running around in tights and leotards.

Here, they were putting all the little "baby spices" (the little ones, you know what I mean?) behind the "safety bar" (ie rolling pin) so they would be safe. Then they were covering them with their blankies and telling them it was time to "go night, night." Where do they get this stuff from?
These are a little out of order but I tried to be domestic this year and made cookies for my neighbors and I let the girls each decorate one. Here, they are painting on the icing.

... do I see sprinkles?!?!?

... who needs the cookie? ... this is Meredith ... she literally ate the whole bowl of frosting with her spoon.

all done!

... you want me to wait so you can take a picture of my cookie? Are you kidding me, Mom?!

getting started ...

... half-way there ...

mine were a little less psychedelic that my two little sous chefs' cookies were ... hope they were good! The last thing I wanted to do after a 4 day cookie-making-spree (I made and frosted 80 of them) was eat one!

The girls got Alan a desk organizer for his office that has 3 little frames in it ... and I was trying to get some photos for it ... when I asked Hannah to look at the camera and smile this is what I got ...

... shortly after this one, she started crying! She has gotten pretty shy. She has always been clingy but once you get her to open up she is pretty social. When I got them up from a nap and they could hear a lot of people downstairs (we were having a little get-together with my Mom's extended family) she said to me "I hear people downstairs, I am going to be shy."

When I asked my generally more introverted child to smile for the camera ... this is what I got ...

... then this ... go figure?!

Here is Christmas morning ... what do you know ... Santa came!

a child after my own heart ... goes straight for the chocolate!

Meredith on her tricycle

Hannah on her tricycle

Santa also brought them these princess PJs which they HAD to put on RIGHT THEN ... after a few Santa gifts ... they needed a break and wanted to watch a show on Mommy's computer ... so we let them have a little break.

After a Clifford episode, we got back to gifts. Mommy and Daddy got them this dollhouse (it is a dollhouse that houses little critters instead of dolls ... bunnies, cats and the like ...) At this point, they mostly like to get all the little baby critters and put them in a cup, then move them into the baby pool, then put them on the window sill ... etc ... I'm telling you ... obsessed ... obsessed with the sorting and organizing!! Meredith, however, does enjoy playing with the house how it is intended sometimes. She will put all the beds in one room and put all the babies night, night ... Hannah mostly just likes to take all the little drawers of the dressers and kitchen furniture out then put them back in ... out, in, out, in ... As a side note ... their PJs were way too big (Santa really thought by 2.5 maybe they could actually wear a 2T ... not so much) and I had to roll up the pants because they kept getting super ticked and saying that their pants were "driving them crazy!!!" ... again, it is me ... my own words coming out of their mouths! Everything "drives them crazy" these days ... too funny! Even funnier is when (especially Hannah) will pretend that one of us (me or Alan) is upset and say "what is wrong? you have to use your words, tell me what is wrong? There is no reason to fuss ..." or when I really AM upset at them or the dog or something and Meredith will say that "Mommy needs to calm down, she is acting crazy!" ... love it, love it ... the things that come out of their mouths! At least it lets me know that they are, at least, listening to us!

thanksgiving & meet Santa

2009-12-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

The girls and I have had a fairly calm few weeks. As for Alan, he seems to have a black cloud when it comes to being on-call because his past few weeks have been anything but calm. He has another run of call at Christmas (24th, 25th, 26th and 27th) so pray for us that he is not called in on Christmas morning therefore missing the first Christmas where the girls are "getting it" as far as presents and Santa are concerned. They are getting pretty excited about Christmas but still too young to understand the concept of time ... I think they are a little tired of waiting as we have all these decorations and presents and ... what?! ... we can't open them yet? The girls and Alan have been a little under the weather the past few days and I hope the bug continues to stay away from me! Alan is also trying to recover from running the Kiawah Island half-marathon this past weekend. We plan to stick around for Christmas due to Alan's call schedule as well as the fact that the new Finley family member should be here in a matter of weeks. It is a little exhausting to climb the stairs much less haul myself, a bunch of presents and two 2-year olds out of town on my own. It will be nice, though I will miss MY childhood Christmas routine, to begin to make Christmas traditions for my own kids. My family is coming here after Christmas for which I am so grateful! I can hardly wait to have everyone in the same room again! For Thanksgiving, Alan was off Thursday and Friday so we went to Sumter. We had a blast and the girls had so much fun playing with their cousins. I did not take nearly enough pictures!

Here are the girls on game day. I was nice to Alan and did not buy two Clemson shirts ... as he would say, at least one of our kids cheered on a winning team ... as I would say, there is always next year, right?

One of the few pictures I took at the Finley's ... the girls were happy to see their Dad and ran for hugs even though he was post-run sweaty ... they are braver than me!
The girls love to see and talk about their cousins Nick and Jackson. Both of the boys are so great with them! Nick was very patient and sat and read to Meredith for a long time ... it was too, too cute!

As the saying goes, most kids would rather play with the box the toys come in rather than the toys themselves ... just, in our case, the box REALLY needs to be big enough for two! This one worked just fine!

... as does our kitchen cabinet ... they love to play hide and seek and this is a favorite spot to hide ... I, of course, can NEVER find them though ;)

Another favorite new "game" is to bounce on Daddy's legs ... which I am sure is easier on Alan than the "jump on Daddy" which they used to love to do!

The past few weeks, the girls seem to have gotten closer and closer ... they often want "sissy" to kiss their "boo boos" as opposed to Mommy ... which is what is happening here ...

We decided the girls were old enough that we could chance putting up a Christmas Tree ... they have been told they can touch the ornaments but only with ONE finger ... and they are really very good about it!

I thought it had been a while since I posted a photo of myself ... so, here I am, in all my big belly glory ...

Anyone who knows about how this particular event went last year knows that a 50% improvement is not too bad ;) Meredith wasn't thrilled but she tolerated it ... Hannah was terrified. For fear of scarring her for life, I didn't even try to put her on Santa's lap but you can still see from the picture that she is about as close to me as she could get without morphing into my body ... which, most days, I think she would do if she could ...

haircuts and children's museum

2009-11-21T11:59:00.000-08:00

We have had a good few weeks. Alan had a week off two weeks ago and other than a few administrative-type things he had to do, he spent most of his time with us girls. He "reconnected" with "his" baby (Meredith-she has always been the one who will give "love" freely to him whereas Hannah is a Mommy's girl and needs to be in the "Daddy mood" to pay attention to Alan) and now she cries when he leaves the room and they follow him in the bathroom and etc ... nice change of pace ;) The change in routine (perhaps) did throw a wrench in our MMO success and Hannah has taken to crying much of the day again. Geez ... just when you think it is getting a little easier! Thursday was a pretty good day, though, so maybe we will be back on track soon. We decided that it was time to even out their hair and took them to the salon for the first time. I was surprised at how much I worried that they would look different from each other ... as much as we feel it is important that they realize they are different people and how much we do want to foster their independance, I guess I will always hold on to the days where people had a hard time telling them apart. Even post-haircut, their teachers rely on my dressing them differently, so I guess I don't have to be sad yet!

this is Meredith, pre-haircut

Meredith, again. She was so well-behaved. I guessed that she would do better with being messed with than Hannah would but I was surprised at how well she did. She just sat there like she was told and looked to be enjoying the whole process.
still Meredith

Meredith, all done from the back ...

... and from the front!

Hannah, pre-haircut ...

Hannah really did OK. Which surprised me, as well! She whimpered a little and reached for me to get her almost the whole time ... and needed her "bee bee, bay" ... and was generally a little squirmy but she didn't cry or insist on getting down so I was super proud of them both.

When her hair person (didn't catch the name!) started to dry her hair she actually looked like she enjoyed it! Now, sometimes she wants me to dry her hair at night after her bath which is fun ... a fun part of having girls ... fixing their hair.

Hannah, all done from the back ...

... and the front!

We had a pretty bad day yesterday. Alan was post-call and the girls were restless and wanted to "go somewhere else to play" though we had plans to go look at a car. So, in order to try to compensate them for spending an hour + at the Toyota place yesterday (which, in turn, made them fall asleep in the car on the way home and therefore not take a nap once we got home therefore be REALLY grumpy the rest of the day) we decided to take them for a fun day this morning. We went to the children's museum then to get some Mexican food (one of their favs) at Taco Boy. They were so well-behaved the whole time (with the exception of when Meredith fell and twisted her ankle ... which she is still limping around from ... so, understandable fit.)

Here, they are playing in the water room ... if they were only about a foot taller, this room would be much better ... so we didn't stay long

Here, they are "driving" the shrimp boat ...

hmmm .... guess the shrimp boat has 2 steering wheels (or driving wheels as Hannah would say) ... speaking of, this is Hannah in the pink ... the girl always has to be wearing pink, have the pink bowl and the pink spoon ... girly girl, that one!

post-twisted ankle (the reason for M holding on to blankie) ... here, they are playing with blocks with Alan ...

The favorite activity of the day, by far, was hanging out in the crafts room. We made these lovely birds (the two funky purple ones with the crazy feathers and rhinestones) and sat them on the tree to help decorate the room ... I think they really enjoyed the fact that since there were two sets of adult hands, I was letting them play with markers and glue ... when it is just me, we stick to crayons and tape! Alan and Meredith's bird is on the left and mine and Hannah's is on the right.

This particular day, they were offering "painting in the garden" so we went out and let the girls mess around with the paints. They seemed to really enjoy it! Hannah, in particular, really enjoys being creative and coloring and crafts (from my observation and also per their teacher at MMO.) Meredith is my sorter ... she loves to sort and organize and to play with multiple of the same-type thing (blocks, plastic animal figurines, stuffed animals ...) They both love to play with Play-Doh and Meredith wants me to take one color and make all of it into little balls she can dump out and put back in, dump out and put somewhere else ... etc. Hannah likes to take all the little cookie cutters and make different shapes or make worms ... etc. It is interesting to watch them learn their preferences with play.

Trick or Treat, Holy Molars & Big Girl Beds ...

2009-11-04T19:18:00.000-08:00

Well, we made the leap to big girl beds! Between getting out of the cribs, getting rid of the paci & potty training ... we figured this was the one they were most ready for! They did astonishingly well until today, the honeymoon seems to be over. They (well, really Meredith) partied it up instead of napping this afternoon. Hannah was out the first time I went in but I think she about pee'ed in her pants when I came in and said "get back in your beds!!!" whereas Meredith was in and out of hers for the whole 2 hours they were in there. I kept hearing toys that make music that were not in her bed ... would go up there and poor Hannah would just look at me (from her bed) with the deer in headlights look and Meredith would say "but I, I just, I, I, I, wanted, wanted ... I wanted ... toy ..." she was too worried to make sense but not too worried to keep getting out to play with loud toys! We are getting there though and it has been a lot easier of a transistion than I thought it would be. For Halloween, since it was 90 degrees I decided against putting them in the full length fur monkey and elephant costumes that I bought and instead just put them in some cute little ballet tutus that a friend gave me. They were a little skeptical at first as my neighbors were giving out toothbrushes and toothpaste (they are dentists) instead of candy but after we got some actual candy and they figured out what was going on they had a lot of fun trick-or-treating and then answering the door at our house. They are still doing well in school though in general they are going through a fussy stage. They are getting some more 2 year molars and they are NOT happy about it! Poor things! They are just a mess! They chew on their hands all day and drool and fuss ... I can't wait until all of these darned teeth are in! We had a playdate here today with a few of their school friends and they did great and it has been fun to see them becoming more social. I was very proud of them and how well they shared even their most favorite toys. Here are a bunch of photos from the last week.

Hannah's toddler bed

Meredith's ...
Hannah playing in her bed with her "costume" one ... when I put it on her she said "Mommy! I look like princess!" So we named ourselves Princess Piggytails ...

Meredith ... she is beginning to learn to stand still and say "cheese" for pictures

About the best I could do for two in one photo ... Hannah wouldn't drop that paci ... she is much more attached to it than Meredith ...

Meredith left and Hannah right ... ready to hit the streets and hit up some neighbors for candy!

Hmmmm ... anything good in this bag (Hannah)?

Now THAT is what I am talking about (H)!!!

Mmmmmm ... chocolate (Meredith)!!

just a cute shot of the back of the outfit ... think this is Hannah

They made their little trick-or-treat bags at school ... here, they are checking out the goods ... and yes, eating Mike & Ikes off the floor ;) Oh well, a little Vitamin D-I-R-T never hurt anyone =)

reading books in the tutu ... there is more to a "princess" than just good looks!

I love the close-ups where you can tell their eyes are the same color as mine ... maybe a little proof that they are, in fact, my children =)

Meredith may regret this day in a few years ... the day she proved to me that she can use a vaccuum cleaner (sort of) ... I was flipping my couch cusion covers and getting down feathers EVERYWHERE and she dust busted all of them and had fun, too! Hannah pointed them out for her (over here, sissy, here's a feather) and she would suck them right up! Quite handy aren't they ... when they want to be!

My poor, teething little girls ... the frozen lemonade was a hit tonight and I had a day where insisting they not eat messy stuff on the couch was not a battle I was going to fight ... they are pretty good with the spoon though ... this is Meredith ... full on concentration face ...

Hannah ... a little frozen lemonade ... a little Max & Ruby (cartoon) ... what else could a girl ask for?

Happy Fall!

2009-10-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

We have been busy bees lately! We were all sick and stuck at home for 2 weeks so have been making up for lost time the past week or two! The girls are both FINALLY OK with going to school and seem to be even enjoying it! They sing tons of little songs and can both recite nursery rhymes that I don't even know all the words to! It is funny to see a little kid get a song stuck in her head ... all weekend, Hannah sung "doo, dah ... doo, dah ... doo, dah, day!" ... which, in turn, got Camptown Races in my head all weekend, too =) The photos are in reverse order but when I am doing this, I never take the time to think backwards when I put them in! The new baby is doing well ... we have decided to name her Caroline Avery. We are getting to the home stretch and have her furniture ordered and we are going to look at cars soon ... I am starting to feel anxious to get everything ready ... Unless something changes, I am scheduled for her delivery on January 27th. She kicks a LOT and keeps me up at night kicking ... wakes me up early kicking ... Alan is thinking we will have yet another fiesty little girl! We will see! The girls seem to be excited (though I know this may change when she is a reality to them) but love to talk about her and how she will live in her room and how we need to get another car so Caroline can fit and how we can play with her and once M said that when Baby Caroline gets here she will "be so happy" (she was saying that Caroline would be happy, not that Meredith would be happy) ... I asked why she would be "so happy" and she said "be so happy to get her Mommy back!" ... ?? I think that has to do with when I come and get them from school ... who knows ... but they do love to talk about her, feel my tummy (when she kicks, Hannah gets really into it and says "Mommy! I hear the baby kicking you!" ... too funny), "look for her" they will pull up my shirt and say "want to see her, want to see Baby Caroline," so I hope it will be as smooth a transition as is possible with this kind of family change. Well, I could go on and on ... but I will stop here and get on with the photos ...

Today, I helped with a little "Fall Party" at the girls' school. I snapped only 3 photos before my camera battery died =( Here, they are singing and doing the motions with their teacher, Miss Linda. They are the two in the back with the white sweaters. It is a cute little class of 2 year olds! The teacher said that today they fought with each other for the first time so I know they MUST be feeling comfortable now! They fight all the time at our house! They seem to always be either fighting or hugging! Very moody, these two ... wonder where they got that from?? Today their teacher was marveling at how "connected" they are (her word) and said that they try and try but can't tell them apart and that even their personalities are so similar that it is impossible for them to figure out a system for who is who! So funny to me because I think they are so different!

We went to the zoo in Columbia this past weekend. It rained a bit on us and the girls were fussy at the start but it ended up being a good little day trip! We pushed them a little too far and Meredith had a massive fit to get back in the car (overtired, anyone?) but all's well that ends well ... as you see here ...

Here is their cousin, Kate, who has to be the most photogenic baby in the history of babies! She always seems to be willing to flash a big smile ... and those blue, blue eyes are to die for! Alan's sister and BIL live in Cola and it was nice to see Sara and Kate for a few hours on Saturday!

The girls were very grumpy until after we ate ... here, they are getting treats from Daddy for behaving at the restaurant! Alan jokes that you can get Hannah (pink) to do just about anything for candy! Man, that girl has a sweet tooth! The second half of our trip was much more fun!

The girls are still very much Mommy's girls and I always lament at how they will "let" Alan pretty much do anything while he is alone with them ... watch football, check his email ... and when they are with me and I try to do anything other than be with them 100% it is a no-go (or I do it holding one with the other crying at my feet) ... well, this made me feel better the other day ;) The minute he sat down with the laptop they were on top of him to play (or snuggle)!

We had a playdate with some of the girls from MMO the other day and the hostess has this GREAT little jump castle! Perfect for 2 year olds! The girls loved it and have wanted to go "jump, jump" several times since then. It was really nice to get out and socialize and watch the girls interact with other kids that they "know." Thanks, Connie! This is Hannah ...

Meredith ...

with a friend ...

what a great backyard ... the girls have really gotten into swinging! They used to be scared on the swing (even the little baby swing) but now they love to either swing "like a big girl" or get in the baby swing and swing "higher and faster, higher and faster, higher and faster!"

On one of the recent very chilly days, we went to feed the ducks in Hampton Park. The girls looked so young in these little sweatsuits and their hats. I couldn't resist snapping a few pics ... I can't believe that in a few short months they will be my big girls and there will be a new baby in the family ... this is Hannah ...

Meredith ...

lovin' the lollipop ... and they think the words "tootsie roll pop" are about the funniest thing a person can say ...

A few weekends ago we went to the Aquarium ... it was so nice because Alan was there, too, and one girl wanted to do one thing and the other wanted something else (happens a LOT lately!!!) and so we went our separate ways and I had a nice time being able to cater to one child without feeling torn between the two ... we met up outside at closing time and walked around the harbor for a bit ... thought this was a cute photo op!

This photo was taken first and I think Hannah's expression was too funny ... she was not too sure about the huge frog ... in the next photo she was hightailing it off the bench ;)

The weekend prior, my parents were here for a few days. My Mom and I took the girls to the Pumpkin Patch at Boone Hall. My Mom took more photos and I plan to save them (thanks for sending them, Mom!) and post some, too ... but just haven't gotten around to it yet (I know, I know ... what else do I have to do?!) ... Here, the girls are picking their pumpkin ... needless to say, the ones we actually took home were a bit smaller ;) They have expensive taste, just like Mommy =) She was trying to pick it up and making the "Ughhhhh" noise you make when you lift something heavy and saying "is it too heaby" ... they still switch up the "it is" with "is it" and "v's" are still a little tough for them to say ... but other than that, they can pretty much say anything ... they even use "me, my, mine, ours, they, theirs, his, hers ..." those kinds of words the right way ... it amazes me how fast 2 year olds learn! I think I will be a bit sad when it all comes out perfectly! I think the little mistakes are so cute!

just some cute photos taken in the yard ... the girls love to be outside and they have definately gotten comfortable in our new house ... we play all over the place! We play in their room, the play room, on the guest bed, on "Mommy and Daddy's" bed, in "Baby Caroline's room," in the family room, on the porches, in the yard ... I feel like for about an hour after they go to bed, I am putting the house all back together! They certainly own the house at this point!

Two looking at the camera at once! That never happens!

Warning: creepy crawly picture ahead ... and some cute ones!

2009-09-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

We have been busy with starting Mother's Morning Out (MMO), hanging around Charleston and going to visit my parents in Spartanburg. It has been a bit of a rough few weeks with the girls having a really hard time with the transistion to being with me all the time, to going to MMO two mornings a week. It has transferred over a bit to every day and I think the girls fear that anytime I get them dressed then I must be taking them to school so it has been hard to get them out of the house! Here are some of our goings on ...

Anyone who knows me knows that I did NOT like what I saw when I looked out the front door (thank goodness I LOOKED before I opened as I was on my way out the door) ... at least, this finally prompted Alan that it was time to suck it up and spend the $ on an exterminator! They are coming Thursday and I hope to no longer have a spider problem (apparently, our front porches offer a sweet living for the local spiders ... we must have at least 100!) Nothing like a free Halloween decoration though!

At a local playground ... Hannah

Meredith

at the Aquarium ... two people out of three ... oh, well, almost a good one!

Hannah and Alan checking out the penguins ... they were swimming around and would come right up to the glass ... the girls loved it!

Meredith and Alan ...

These are a little out of order ... here is Meredith, well, rather Meredith's feet ... she was quite traumatized by her first day of "school" ... they are not allowed to have "bee bee and blanky" which is good but quite tough for them ... They have gone from crying the whole 3 hours to doing a little better everyday. It seems to be that either one or the other has a bad day and they feed off of each other. M has been doing well but today they called me to come get her early because she was so upset. They said H did well today (which was a first) but would occasionally get upset because Meredith was so upset. Here, Meredith was rubbing her little tag on her blanky between her toes! She is so funny with that tag ... rubs it on her face, in her ear, on her teddy bear's face ...

Poor M, so sad that Mommy left her at school!

Meredith, first day of "school" ... looking pretty skeptical!

Hannah, first day of "school" ... looking a little ticked off!

I think we will be working hard on potty training soon! Hannah spent a lot of time yesterday sitting on the potty (and here she is putting cow on the potty.) We have yet to have any action but she sure does love to sit on it (especially if it is time to go to bed ... smart little thing ... I sense some serious stalling in our future ... yes, Mom, I know, I deserve it! =)

Ultrasound photos just fascinate me! Here is our new baby's little hand ...

... and little legs crossed at the ankles

... and her GIRL parts ... yep, yep ... another girl!!

Here is my darling new niece, Sylvia ... I was so glad to get to spend some time with her (and her parents, my brother and SIL) a few weekends ago in Spartanburg.

Love that smile!

Here's Ry ... a GREAT Dad! Sylvia is lucky to have such great parents!
Next time I need to get a photo with her Mommy ... sorry Sarah!!

2009-09-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

I finally took the time to go through most of the photos from the week with the Holl family (Alan's Mom's side.) We had such a fun week and everyone was so sweet and patient with the girls! They still are very Mommy clingy and stranger anxious. There were so many good pics but I limited it to a few ...

The girls get so excited to see their "big boy cousins" and the boys were an amazing help and so, so sweet with the girls! Here are the girls with Nick and Jackson Thurman (Alan's oldest sister's boys.)

Here are the cousins (minus Baby Kate) playing Ring Around the Rosey
(one of the girls favorite games.)
Here, they are all pretending to "go night, night" ... another game the girls love ... they lay down and say "night, night ... want you go away, Mommy" ...

Alan's Uncle Jim and Aunt Suzanne have much better skills and patience than I ever will with a camera and they got several really cute pics of the girls ... here, they are playing in a big hole on the beach ... THANKS Jim and Suzanne for the great pics ... we miss you guys!

someone ... =)

someone else??

Giving Baby Kate a kiss goodbye since she was leaving the next day. We talk about Baby Kate a lot in this house! I hope they are as interested in their new baby sibling in a few months!

Trying, with the help of the MacBook and Baby Einstein, to have a peaceful dinner at Coast

a little of this ... a little of that

2009-08-26T12:07:00.000-07:00

We have been super busy lately with family in town and exploring so I will have to post this in two parts. First, last week, Alan's Mom's side of the family had a family reunion. As soon as I gather everyone's photos (as I didn't take nearly enough =) I will post some photos of that fun time! These are mostly of this past weekend and this week. We have been doing a lot of hanging at the "new house" as the girls call it since we were gone a lot last week. We have had a few outings, though, to keep us all happy! The girls are doing great and talking more than ever. We had a Pediatrician appointment at 25 months old and they were not too happy with the weights since they are still waaaay below the 5%, but that has always been the case, so I am not too worried. Meredith now carries the title of peanut as she only weighed in at 20 pounds 12 ounces and Hannah outweighed her by almost a pound at 21 pounds 8 ounces. They were both around 10% for height though! I wish I were tall and skinny! The baby is doing well, too. It "measured" right where it should at 14 weeks gestation and had a strong heartbeat. I have another appointment a week from today (I will be 18+ weeks by then) and I would looooove to find out the gender ... though I don't know if she will do another US then or not. I may have to wait for my 20 week one. I, of course, will keep you posted!

having fun with Daddy's camping equipment (M was saying 'Hannah funny!' because she thought she looked darn hilarious in the doo-rag ... which, she did)

Hannah
Meredith's turn =)

I've never met any two kids who love to hug as much as these girls do! Hannah loves to "catch sissy" at the bottom of the slide and give her a hug/tackle. Good thing Meredith is a good sport about it!

Dora daze again ... I have figured out one thing that seems to always be the case ... when they are relaxing, Meredith almost always sucks in her bottom lip like this and Hannah does not. An expression I have noticed Alan do sometimes, too.

A tip for those looking for a difference =) There is a great indoor play area called No Limits about a mile from our house. They love to wrestle in the ball pit! In fact, they love to wrestle just about anywhere. It is all fun and games until someone gets hurt, right?! =)

Hannah running like a crazy person

Meredith's turn

is it naptime yet?

playing peek-a-boo in the tent

at the neighborhood playground ... what do ya know ... hugging at the bottom of the slide again ...

playing with a worm ... gross

We went to the Aquarium this morning where they had a blast! Here is Meredith in "Camp Carolina" where they had the most fun! My sister made these adorable dresses so I was trying to get a good photo for her!

Checking out the fish in the "stream"

My gosh do these girls love a slide?!?!? We have a slide in their playroom at home but they still spent at least 15 minutes on this slide at the Aquarium. Here is Hannah in her "Kristi Whitaker Original" =)

Mmmmmm ... chip break ... we love to go to the Aquarium because of the cool animals but also because they have really good pizza and when we go the girls have figured out that Mommy will let them eat junk food for lunch so that she can have a few minutes to snarf a piece of pizza ;)

This little bridge moves around when you walk on it ... at first, they gripped my hands like vice and would only walk on it with me, then they crawled over it a few times, then got brave enough to tackle it 'on foot' ... I am glad they are cautious and smart!

The Aquarium is full of cool things like real live penguins, bald eagles, sea turtles ... but they had JUST as much fun with this darned rubber chicken that someone had left on a bench ... go figure?!

... speaking of ...

Looking in the great ocean tank ... there were divers in there working with the fish and one came and waved at the girls and I think Hannah just about jumped out of her skin! I didn't think that something so normal as a person would freak them out ... but I guess, to them, a person with all that equipment on is just some other kind of "animal" that they have never seen before!

I'm baaa-aaaack

2009-07-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Whew! So, THIS time, I was gone for a long time because of how much we HAVE been doing! I feel like I should write this in outline format! The photos are way out of order but I am too rushed to fix it right now! Most of you all already know most of our news. Of course, we have moved and Alan started a new job. He seems to be liking it so far. His hours are really pretty good and he has his own office and Blackberry and can even go to the bathroom whenever he needs to (nope, wasn't able to do that before!) ... no longer the training peon! However, with that, comes the responsibility of the "buck" ending with him which may take some getting used to. He is back to going to the gym and running and hoping to run a half marathon in December. As for me, in December, I will be only one month or so from giving birth ... so no half marathons for me in the near future. Most of you may have heard our news ... and yes, it is only one this time (thank the Good Lord!). He or she is due on 2/1/10. I was feeling pretty rotten for a while but now am shaking out of it slowly but surely! There are times that I am really excited and times that I wonder how I will handle it all. The girls start a little mother's morning out for two mornings a week in the Fall which will help, I'm sure. I have very mixed emotions about leaving them with "strangers" and suspect that it will be an extremely difficult change for us all. OK, better leave it at that or I will cry! The only other big event was that the girls turned TWO! We are knee deep into the terrible twos with the tantrums and demands but there is a lot more that is charming about 2 than is frustrating (well, maybe not A LOT more =) so as my girls get to be closer and closer to being big girls I can say that there is more that I will MISS about 2 than I will be glad is gone! They are amazing communicators and are speaking in sentances ... all .... day .... long! As anyone who has spent any significant time with them can attest to. I have captured them pretty well on video, I just need to unearth my USB that goes to my Sony so I can post it online. It is amazing how much of myself I hear in them! They will put their cup (or whatever) down and say "put it riiiight there" ... b/c that is what I say when I put something down that I think they will want later ... "Mommy will put it riiiight there for when you want it later." When they hand each other something it is ... "here ya go sissy (or they will call each other by name)" ... When they leave the room it is ... "I be riiiiiiight back" ... When they share a toy it is ... "soooo nice, to share" ... When they have a toy taken "not nice, no take!" ... When they are pretend changing their babies' diapers or pretend cutting their toenails it is ... "IIIIIIIII know, no like it" b/c that is what I say when I am doing something they don't like ... "I know you don't like it." I could go on and on ... Toddlers are amazing little beings!

Their Grammy and Granddaddy Finley got them some furniture for their baby dolls (they are such girly girls ... loooove their baby dolls) for their birthdays. They like to put their babies "night, night" so we are starting to put the babies to bed every night before they go to bed. The first thing out of Hannah's mouth this morning was "play babies" ... so she got her babies up and put her turtle down, put the blanket over him and walked out of the room calling back "see you morning, turtle"

Meredith's way of getting her babies up was to get them out of the bed and toss them on the floor ... at least she waited for me to come in this time before she got out of the bed ... yep, yep ... two days ago I came in to get them up and found her on the floor saying "fell bed, fell bed" (As in, I fell out of the bed)! AHHHH! I thought we had a few more months before that ... so now I am debating between buying a crib tent or just moving them to toddler beds (oh, I rue the day!)
They put their babies in the highchair for "dinner" (guess they haven't quite figured out the difference between breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and called them "twins" ...

They got the changing table, also, from the Finley's and it is a bit tall for them ... so, their Wright Grandparents had gotten them these little stools as part of their bday gift (along with a bunch of clothes, Dora dishes/placemants, Dora beach balls, and little kid sized white rocking chairs for the porch which I need to take a pic of b/c they are so cute) and it goes perfectly with the changing table. They often report that their babies are "stinky" or "have pee pee in there" and I will help them "change" their dolls ...

For their birthday, from us, I took them to the Aquarium and purchased a year pass but also wanted to get them a little something new for the house and so I got this Melissa & Doug toy where they can practice cutting fruit. They love it ... especially Meredith ... this is Meredith here cutting the banana (or Ma-na ... they still haven't quite gotten that word down the right way).

Their Great-Grandma and Bop-bop (Finley side) sent them some money so we went to the toy store and picked out these "Zoobie" pets. They were recommended by the lady who worked there and she said even the college kids who worked there all had one! They are pillows or just stuffed animals this way or you can unzip them and they have these super soft blankets folded up inside. I thought it would be good for when they got older and slept over at other people's houses or whatever. Meredith picked out the pink Hippo and Hannah picked out the turtle and MAN are they hits! They drag hippo and turtle around everywhere! So now, not only do I have to carry them and binkie and blanky up and down the stairs (the FOUR flights of stairs) ... now, I have to make sure to grab hippo and turtle, too. It's OK though because it is so cute how much they love them! THANKS to Bruce and Sally for the contribution!

Happy Birthday! For their bday we just had a low key day. It was too much to try and plan a big party and move and all that so we will just have to have a big blow-out next year! We went to the Aquarium in the morning then after nap we went to pick blueberries. My friend Amy and her daughter Macey went with us and celebrated with us afterwards. It was a nice day!

Much neater with the cup cakes this year! Mostly b/c they have learned that, really, just licking off the icing and leaving the rest is the way to do it! Hannah in blue, Meredith in pink ...

I should have listened when Alan said that toddlers and open flames were not a good idea but I managed to blow it out in time!

SWEATY from the blueberry picking trip!

The girls aren't really very discriminating when it comes to picking blueberries! Oh, well, all in good fun!

The girls and Macey ... two out of three ... not too bad!

This is what I call the "Dora daze" ... they are addicted to Dora ... but they know a bunch of Spanish and can even count to 10 in Spanish (and count to 12 in English) so who am I to complain about some TV =)

Cooper is adjusting OK ... he can't go up and down stairs anymore and can't get up and down from the couch so he pretty much lives on the first floor (I take him up to our room at night where he has another bed) and in his smart new bed. Here are the girls hanging with Cooper.

lazy days ...

2009-05-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

I have not updated the blog in a while for the simple reason that we have not done much. These photos are pretty boring as we have just been hanging around the house and neighborhood. It has been raining a lot here which is not fun for two little ones who would live outside if it were not for the bugs. They are both talking up a storm. They can both say pretty much anything that you ask them to say. They call each other by name or "sissy" and they know every character from Dora, Diego, Sesame Street, Winnie the Pooh ... they know and can say their colors and can count from 1 to 3 (then they usually hop to 6 then 8). They are learning at lightning speeds and they amaze me every day! We go to Charleston for a week and a half starting on Sunday and I look forward to closing on our house then just hanging out with no agenda. I hope for some good beach weather!

Here is Hannah feeding the ducks

Meredith feeds a little bread, eats a little bread ... some for the ducks, some for "Meh-dith"

Team effort

Their hair is finally long enough for pigtails ... they usually end up all crooked because they won't sit still ... but maybe one day they will learn to let me fix their hair. They are much better now than they used to be! This is Meredith.

Hannah left and Meredith right

Hannah at the duck pond earlier in the week

Meredith in the gazebo

ALMOST a good photo!

It was warm enough early last week to put out the pool ... they had a blast!

Hannah

Meredith

Hanging with the Bravo twins at Barnes and Noble ... a favorite rainy day activity! Here, they were all spinning the book carousel and laughing like crazy!

Playing with the trains at B&N ...

Spring has sprung!

2009-04-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

We have had a ball hanging out outside for most of the last week or so. Alan was gone at a conference so my Mom came to help me with the girls. We kept 'on the go' as usual. The highlight of the week has definately been the activity at the Avondale Lake. It is a half mile from our house and we frequently go and feed the ducks. Well, spring has sprug for sure! There are both duck and goose babies! I'm surprised you did not hear Meredith squeal "baaaaaaaaabies!" all the way at your house!

Here is the Mommy duck and her babies. There were 10 and now there are 8 which makes me sad =( A nice lady we stopped to chat with told me that the male ducks do not help the female ducks protect their babies. She said the only interest they show is trying to mate with the female again as soon as she is back in the water (darned male ducks ...) They are so incredibly cute! The photo does not do them justice. She hides them pretty well and I had to sneak to get their little faces ... usually as soon as they heard or saw me they swam in the opposite direction.

The same lady told me that the male geese DO stay and help protect their babies. Every time I see the goose babies, they are surrounded by a whole posse as opposed to just with the Mommy all by herself.
Here, they are following Mommy ...

So stinkin' cute!

Turtles ... hanging out

Hey baby, how YOU doin'?? Wonder if he did the 'yawn and stretch' move?

Again, trying for a good pic of the girls together ... (H right, M left)

One night while the guys were away, the other Fellowship widows and I decided to have pizza at our house ... here are Hannah and Braden hugging ... so cute!

Post-pizza Dora ... from L to R ... Meredith, Braden, Katelyn, Hannah. They look like they could all be sibs with their hair color!

Here is Meredith eating Fruit Loops (or Fruit Hoops as she says) at the Zoo

Oh my goodness, do they love to hug!!! They are very sweet to each other! Even during tantrums one will sort of hover over the other like she wants to help somehow. Sometimes, Hannah will just keep bringing random things to Meredith when she is crying ... binky, blankie, snack, random toy, crayon ... she will aquire a pile ...

Hannah

Checking out the vulture with Grandmama ...

big girl booster chairs!

Hannah has found a new passion. She loves for you to lightly tickle her on her legs, back or belly. She will get sooooo still. In fact, sometimes she will demand it! She will take your hand and put it on her leg and say "tick, tick ..." She rested here on my Mom for a good 10 minutes and let her tickle her back. She had a little pool of drool when she got up! That is what Grandmas are good for right? Finding what you like when Mommy is too exhausted to be creative! Oh, and catching drool, too!

Guess what? Daddy does exist! We went out of town for the weekend of Easter then he went out of town the Friday after and didn't get back until this past Wednesday and you would have thought that he and Hannah had attracting magnets. She cannot rip herself off of him ... he leaves the room for one minute and she cries "Daddy" like her world has torn apart. Meredith is happy and plentiful with the hugs but is being a Mommy's girl right now ... but Hannah ... she really missed her Dad!

Easter

2009-04-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

The girls and I went to Saluda, N.C. for Easter with the Wright side of our family. My Dad is the director of a retreat center there and there is room enough for all of my siblings and our kids to stay. Alan was not able to go as he had to work =( We had a good time and the girls loooooved playing with their big boy cousins.

Here is Hannah playing with some of the spoils from her Easter basket. She had a blast with the necklaces and sunglasses! This was after what should have been a 3 hour drive home but ended up being 5 thanks to traffic. They were ready to take those dresses off and run around!

Here is Meredith ...
This is Meredith right after we got home. It took bribery (jelly beans) to get them back in the house! I think Meredith, especially, would be happy to pitch a tent and just stay outside all the time!

Hannah

Running with the big boys in an empty party room at the restaurant where we ate after church on Easter. The photo is blurry because they were running around like crazy people thanks to Easter candy!

Hannah and the boys after church

Meredith wouldn't leave my side after I traumatized her by leaving them in the church nursery. The poor young girl who had her when I came to pick them up was very relieved to see me as Meredith cried the whole time. Hannah did very well and I would have thought it would have been the other way around ...

Me and the girls after church ...

Hannah and Brayden checking out their finds from the Easter egg hunt ...

Thanks to a Dora egg hunt book, the girls were pretty good at the whole Easter egg hunt thing ... I doubted they would know what to do but they took off and found egg after egg! Here is Meredith finding a purple one ...

... and Hannah finding a tiger stripe one

Hannah holding her own with her cousin Grayson (or Gayse as they called him) ...

... and Meredith holding her own with cousin Landon (or Yan ... like Yam with an 'n' ... as they called him)