9 months old!

On Saturday, my two little monkeys turned 9 months old. I can't believe that we'll be celebrating their first birthday in a few short months. They are growing up so quickly and changing every day!  It's so fun to see them interact more and more with each other and with us and Griffin.

               

About Baylor

Baylor is very strong and really doesn't like to be still for long.  He isn't crawling yet, but he stays up on his hands and knees for a long time and occasionally rocks hard enough to propel himself forward or backward a bit.  He has just started kind of inchworming his way around a little.  He loves to stand up and it's sometimes hard to make him sit down if he doesn't want to.  He is getting more personality each day, smiling and talking more.  I tease him and say that it's because he got tired of me always saying that Hudson was the smiley baby. Baylor has also been clapping a lot lately, and the clapping is usually accompanied by an excited "aaaahhhhh..." 

About Hudson
Hudson is happy and very expressive.  He has been full of smiles almost as long as he's been in the world.  Everywhere we go, people always comment on what a happy baby he is.  I love when he wrinkles up his nose when he smiles.  And on the rare occasion when he isn't happy, singing If You're Happy and You Know It will quickly bring on the smiles. Hudson is also very talkative and a great cuddler. He also LOVES to eat!  He will eat any baby food we offer him, and he always cries when it runs out.  The funny thing is that he actually starts crying as soon as we start scraping the sides of the bowl, even if he still has a few bites left, because he knows that means it's almost gone.  Hudson isn't making as much progress as Baylor on the crawling or standing, but he knows how to roll around to get what he wants.

Even though people are always asking us if Baylor and Hudson are identical, we really don't think they look much alike.  Here is a picture of big brother Griffin when he was 9 months old--I think he looks as much like each of the babies (except chubbier and with significantly more hair!) as they do each other. 

As slow as Christmas

After counting down for weeks, Christmas finally arrived.  When we got to December 20th, Griffin said it was a "straight line to Christmas" because he was on the bottom row of his advent calendar. 

We actually started a little early when Pop and Chaz came over to give the boys their gifts on Thursday, Dec. 23.  Griffin was so excited to get to open some presents and was excited to get the new Cars 2 game for Wii and some other fun gifts. 

The babies were content just to be held and to get to untie Pop's shoes over and over.  They got cute matching Patagonia fleece suits to keep them warm all winter.  Hopefully we'll get some snow this year so they can really test them out!

On Christmas Eve, Mimi and Papaw Al stopped by our house to take pictures before heading to church.  This was the first time we'd ever put the babies in any kind of nursery, but they handled it just fine.  Griffin stayed with us for the service and it was so sweet to see him holding his candle and singing "Silent night, Holy night" at the beginning of each stanza.

All of Matt's family came to our house for dinner this year so that we wouldn't have to cut the celebration short in order to get home and put the babies to bed.  As usual,  Griffin got way too much stuff and he loved every bit of it!

The next day, we started with a relaxed morning at home.  After Griffin and the babies checked out their gifts from Santa, Griffin was ready to start on the wrapped gifts under the tree.  He couldn't wait to open this big one after trying to guess for weeks what was inside (a Lightning McQueen art desk set).  Mimi, Papaw Al, and Weezy all stopped by at the same time to see what Santa had brought.

After the babies' naps, we went to Mimi and Papaw Al's house to continue the celebration. We attempted to take a picture with Mimi and all 5 grandchildren, but that's not an easy feat.  Even though they are looking at a different camera in this one (and Baylor is looking the completely wrong direction), this is actually the best one I got.  Baylor and Hudson really didn't care about having any more Christmas and both took another nap while we were there.  On the other hand, Griffin was so excited about unwrapping presents that he hardly paid attention to what was in one box before he was asking for another one to open. 

Later that evening, Weezy and Mamere came over for dinner and more Christmas gift giving.  Griffin's big present from Weezy was a tabletop air hockey game because Griffin loves to play air hockey at the mall arcade.  Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any pictures of Mamere with her great-grandchildren.

Christmas was such a full day that we never got around to letting the babies open their big gift from us so we stretched Christmas out to the next morning.  Baylor really likes to stand up so I propped him up where he could grab at the paper and bow.  Right after I took this picture, he lost his balance and fell toward Hudson.  Even though Baylor was the one who fell, Hudson was the one who cried. 
Knowing that Griffin would like their gift, I'd kept it a surprise from him, too.  It was a ride-on Lightning McQueen car.Right now, it sits on a base that makes it a rocker.   As they get bigger, it has foot rests and a handlebar so we can push them on it.  And eventually they can push themselves on it.  It makes lots of fun car sounds, says  "Kachow" and plays music.

  











As you can see, it was a hit with the babies. Griffin said he wished he was a baby so he could ride on it, too!  

'Tis the Season

Thursday, December 1st

Mimi came over to bring the boys each a small early Christmas gift.  This was the babies first experience with unwrapping presents.  They are in a very "grabby" stage so they actually did pull at the paper some.  Luckily, they had their big brother there to help them finish the job.

Saturday, December 3rd

Hudson couldn't sleep...which, of course, meant that I wasn't sleeping either. I decided that since I was up I might as well be productive so I started putting lights on the Christmas tree at about 3:45am. Hudson was in his exersaucer watching me, and his eyes lit up when I plugged in the first strand of lights. I had to put the lights down and run grab the camera. He was content watching me long enough for me to get the lights finished.

I spent most of the day (at least most of my "free" time between Griffin's basketball game and all of the feedings and diaper changes for the babies) putting the ornaments on the tree. When I was finished, I sat Baylor in the floor near the tree and he kept reaching out and feeling one of the low branches.  I ran to grab the camera and Griffin decided he wanted in the picture too. 

Saturday, December 10th

We made a much anticipated visit to Santa. Griffin sat on his lap first and quicky rattled off the list of cars from Cars 2 that he still "needs."  Then we sat both of the babies on Santa's lap.  In his usual way, Baylor studied Santa intently but never cracked a smile.  Hudson checked him out for a minute and then gave the photographer some smiles. 

Friday, December 16th

Griffin performed in his school's Christmas concert.  The kindergarten class performs the nativity pageant, but Griffin's class got to play the handbells this year as well as sing a couple of songs. Griffin was very focused when he was watching the cue cards and ringing his bell.

Saturday, December 17th
Mimi had given Griffin a gingerbread house kit earlier in the month.  I had to actually "construct" the house (with some help from Mimi who happened to show up at the perfect time) and do most of the icing, but Griffin had fun putting the candy decorations on.  As soon as he had put the last piece of candy on, he asked if we could eat it.  Of course, I wanted to wait and let everyone see his cute creation, but I gave in the next day since he kept asking and saying, "but it just looks so yummy!"

All December long
Aunt Lacy gave me this cute Pottery Barn Kids advent calendar last year, but not before the 1st of December nor before I'd already bought one of the advent calendars with chocolate.  I hung it up last year, but this was the first year we'd actually used it to count down to Christmas.  I put a tissue-wrapped surprise inside each pocket of the advent calendar.  I had it ready a few days early so there was a lot of anticipation for the start of December.  Normally we have to practically drag Griffin out of bed in the mornings to get ready for school, but he popped out of bed (unprompted!) almost every morning from December 1st until Christmas so that he could run and grab that day's surprise. 

Griffin also invented a new game called "Pretty Lights."  When we would be driving at night and see houses with outdoor Christmas lights, we would yell "pretty lights!"  And he really would yell it out...sometimes with such excitement that Matt and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. I love that he gets as into Christmas as I do!

Happy Halloween!

In years past, I have either chosen for him or strongly persuaded Griffin when it comes to choosing a Halloween costume. But this year I decided to let him be whatever he wanted to be...and it came as no surprise that he wanted to be Lightning McQueen. I decided to take off from work on Halloween so that I could attend the festivities at Griffin's school and finish the twins' "costume" (more on that in a minute...). Here are some pictures I took in Griffin's classroom before the costume parade and Halloween party. I tried to come up with a really cute costume idea for Baylor and Hudson. I didn't want them to wear the exact same costume, but I thought it would be cute if they were things that went together. Some of the ideas I had were milk & cookies, Elmo & Cookie Monster, and Tigger & Pooh. But in the end, I decided that instead of making them coordinate with each other I would have them coordinate with Griffin. And so this idea was born... I spent a good part of the weekend turning cardboard boxes and the double stroller into Mater the Tow Truck. Of course, he had to be "Race Team Mater" from Cars 2 so he needed flames and a 95 on the side as well as the headphones and mic. I ran out of time before I got him just the way I wanted him (no rust, no working headlight, etc), but my little Lightning McQueen was very excited about having his pal Mater with him for trick-or-treating.

Griffin really loved trick-or-treating this year. It was getting pretty late and cold, but he kept asking to go to "just a couple more houses." We covered almost all of Forest Brook and didn't get home until about 8:00. He said several times that it was a great day and "I just love Halloween!" It was past the babies' bedtime when we got home, but I wanted to get pictures of them in their Halloween outfits since they'd been bundled up in the stroller. Hudson is our smiley baby and he had this big grin in several pictures, but he looks very serious in all of the pictures I took of all three of them together.

What a week!

October 10-16th

On Monday, Griffin had an appointment with the pediatric opthamologist to see if the patching we'd been doing for a few months had helped his eye that wants to drift (unfortunately, it had not). On Tuesday, he had his 6-week follow-up appointment with the ENT to make sure everything looked good from the tonsilectomy/adenoidectomy that he had in August (luckily it did).

Griffin and I both had Fall Break on Thursday and Friday, and we were excited about getting away for a night with our friends, Sarah and Bo, and their two kids. Unfortunately, the beautiful fall weather we'd been having earlier in the week didn't last and we had a dreary day. While there was a break in the rain, we all took a walk to the nearby creek. Sarah snapped this picture of me, Griffin, and Hudson on the way to the creek. I had originally told Griffin not to go far enough to get his pants wet, but that quickly went out the window. He was quickly soaked and had boots completely full of water (which he didn't want to empty before walking back because he liked the sloshing sound). I'm glad I let him just have fun being a boy and getting messy because that ended up being the highlight of the whole trip.

Back at the cabin, Baylor was napping and I was in the kitchen holding Hudson while the big kids were playing in another room. We heard one of them crying and Matt went to check on them. A minute later he was yelling my name and carrying Griffin into the kitchen with the back of his shirt covered in blood. Brody had accidentally hit Griffin in the back of the head with a candle snuffer. Matt and I left the babies with Sarah and Bo and rushed Griffin to the Blount Memorial ER. He ended up getting 3 staples in the back of his head, but he was amazingly tough during the ordeal.

The next day was the babies half birthday. It's amazing how quickly 6 months has gone! I had wanted to make cupcakes with Griffin and have a little birthday party for the babies, but we didn't get back from the mountains until that evening and we were all wiped out. But I did at least get a few pictures of them together before they went to bed. 

 And the babies did get a little 6-month gift--when we got home from the mountains, we found that the new double stroller we'd ordered had been delivered. It took Matt a little while to get it put together so it was Saturday before we were able to take it for a test drive. It's definitely easier to push than the double snap 'n go that we'd been using and the babies seem to like their new ride. Baylor was asleep just a few minutes into our walk and Hudson smiled the whole way. I love that I can have both babies facing me, both facing out at the world, or facing each other like they are here.

On Saturday, we went to get Griffin's glasses. He really didn't want to wear them and was self-conscious about people seeing him in them. Matt took him to Mr. Gatti's on Sunday as a treat for having a rough few days. He won some prizes playing games, and I was able to take this picture of him in his glasses when he got home (the teeth really worked in my favor since he likes to make silly faces all the time now when I try to take his picture).

Four years old!

Griffin has been so excited about turning four! He has been talking about it for months, and has said so many funny things with regards to his birthday. He has told us that he'll start trying lots of things (like soup, mac & cheese, corn, and more) when he turns four. When he was sick a few weeks earlier, he said he hoped he wouldn't be sick for his birthday because he wouldn't get to have a party and then he'd be three forever!

The big day finally arrived on Thursday and he was ready! Griffin spent the first half of his special day at VBS. We had lunch at home and I had a cupcake for him so he could make his first birthday wish.

He had a swim lesson later that afternoon (only his fifth lesson). Now that he was four years old, he decided he'd be very brave jumping in, putting his face in the water, and even dog paddling a little. After his lesson, we picked up Daddy and the babies and went to dinner at Pero's on the Hill. Griffin had been begging all afternoon to open a present. We took one small present with us and let him open it while we waited for our food. After splitting a pizza, we went to Sweet CeCe's for frozen yogurt. Then it was back home to open his other presents. On Saturday afternoon, we had a pirate-themed party at The Little Gym. The kids had fun jumping on the airmat, playing Disappearing Islands, searching for treasure, playing Hide & Seek, and more. All of the kids were on the move so much that it was hard to get many cute pictures!

Griffin didn't open presents at The Little Gym so we invited our families over for a pizza party and present opening that evening. Griffin also got to make one last birthday wish.

Little Ballplayer

Griffin has been playing on a "wee ball" team this spring. He's #20 on the Orioles. I'm probably a little biased, but I think he's a pretty good ballplayer for a 3 year old! These pictures were taken at his very first game. Look at that hit! And what good running form!
There are no outs and they don't keep score in wee ball. They play two innings, and each team goes through its entire roster during each inning. Despite the fact that the focus is on fun instead of competition, Griffin already takes it pretty seriously. Here he is waiting for the next batter.
He is very hard on himself when he doesn't catch every ball that comes his way...but he gets very excited when he does get to the ball first. Here he is snagging a ground ball and throwing it back to the coach.