Musical Prodigies

The newest trick around our house is sitting up. Jake is better than Mal at it right now, but she is catching up. This musical table is perfect for helping them with this skill, & they love the lights & sounds. I also just love this video because of Jake's obvious adoration of his sister.

Here's one of our favorite shots of late.

For Sale

As many of you know, our house is for sale. We love our house, but we knew it might not hold us forever with just three bedrooms. We weren't planning to move for another year or two, but with housing prices & interest rates low, it seemed worth a look at least. A couple weeks ago, we found a house that we love. It is just a couple miles directly east of our current location & has some room for us to grow.

Trying to sell our house has been quite interesting so far. Two weekends ago we got our first call that someone wanted to show the house. We packed up the kids & headed out to do some errands during the time that it was to be shown. When we got home, thirty minutes after the babies' normal feeding time, we found ourselves in a bit of a difficult situation. The door between the garage & house, which we never lock, was locked. We just happened to have with us the only set of car keys that doesn't have a house key on the ring. We were locked out of our own house. The babies were still asleep in the car, but I was more than a little worried that they would wake up soon & be hungry. After calling our neighbor who has a key to our house & not getting an answer, we called our realtor & found out that the realtor who had shown the house was now over an hour away. Justin decided his only option was to climb up into the attic through the garage, make his way to the other side of the house & climb down using the attic staircase in the hallway by the bedrooms. Luckily, he managed to do this without falling through the ceiling. I think he may have regretted having that extra insulation sprayed last year as he was digging through it to find a safe place to step. God apparently felt sorry for me & the babies stayed asleep until we finally got into the house, over an hour past their feeding time.

Daddy to the rescue!Since then, we've made sure we always have a house key with us. I got a call for another showing yesterday as I was in the process of preparing a meal to take to some friends of ours who have a new baby. I had one hour in which to finish making the meal, get it all packaged up to go, clean my disastrous kitchen, pick up the house, sweep the floors, deal with two babies who woke up early from their nap & get diapers changed. I'm not sure, but I think a magic superwoman cape may have appeared on my shoulders, because it somehow all got done. Anyway, that's our crazy life these days! It will all be worth it when we finally sell the house!

In case you're in the market for a new home, here's the link to ours. Buy it, please!

Note to Self

Never give the babies sweet potatoes too close to bed time.

We introduced sweet potatoes on Sunday, but we were pressed for time before church, so we fed them before their 8:30 bottle instead of before the 5:30 feeding. Needless to say, they were on a bit of a sugar high when it was time for bed. They calmed down (crashed) pretty quickly, but the hyper state was hilarious to witness.

Yum!

This is long, but it was a monumental event, so you have to document it. Sarah is filming for me since J was in Delaware yesterday, & that's Riley playing quietly in the background.

True to form, Jake dove for the spoon as soon as it got near his mouth.Mal was a little less sure.After a good effort, Jake decided he'd had enough. They did even better today, so we're on the right track. They immediately seem so much older to me now!

Six Months Old!

Our babies are six months old! This post is a few days late because I wanted to have their stats from our doctor visit yesterday. Here they are with Mr. Bear.


Jake

• weighs 14 lb 1 oz (<5%)
• is 25 inches long (7%)
• has sort of a big head at 17 inches around (35%)
• grins all the time, with big belly laughs mixed in
• steam rolls happily
• scoots towards a toy when on his belly
• is getting pretty good a sitting up without support
  
• very much enjoyed his first taste of rice cereal today

Here's his serious pose:
Attacking Mr. Bear:
Easily distracted:This is Jake's newest trick. We call it his old man face. He makes this face & then talks to us, resembling an old man without his dentures.Mallory

• weighs 13 lb 10 oz (10%)
• is 24 3/4 inches long (20%)
• also has kind of a big head at 16 3/4 inches around (50%)
• is a major giggler
• has a big attitude
• loves to roll
• "talks" constantly
  
• was rather unsure about her first taste of rice cereal

Her sweet & innocent pose:
There are those giggles:
Silly girl making faces at Daddy:
Funny face:
Here are some of my recent favorites.
I hate that she sucks her thumb, but I love how cute she looks doing it.


I'm not sure why Blogger wants to turn this one on its side, but here's Mal having a serious conversation with Daddy.
Garrett & Amy babysat for us on the 13th so we could celebrate Valentine's Day. We had a wonderful dinner at Nick & Sam's steakhouse, & the babies were very good for them. Thanks so much, guys!
Future crawler
Reading some of their valentines
Daddy thought it was funny to pull Mal's pants up to her armpits & insisted we get a picture.
Jake rolled under the coffee table one night & thought that it was just hilarious. We didn't get a picture of him laughing, but he stayed under there forever, just grinning like he was getting away with something.
This was Monday morning. The shirts say Non-Refundable, which was a very appropriate reminder for that day. Thanks, Uncle Ryan!
This was today as we headed out for a walk. I know, I always post random pics of them in hats, but it's just so cute!
They enjoyed the walk & getting to say hi to Grammy & DadDad, & they even fell asleep before we got home. Yea for good naps!
I'll try to get their video of the first cereal experience up tomorrow.

So Easy!

I just wanted to share my success in my latest project. I decided to make the twins' baby food myself in the interest of good health & saving money. Lots of moms do this, but I was still nervous about how difficult it would be. For any of you that were wondering if you could do it, let me share that it is SO EASY! I've made sweet potatoes & applesauce so far, & I'm on to squash tomorrow. Go Mommy!

Steamrollers

We finally have footage of the twins rolling over. In the last week, we went very quickly from rolling occasionally to steamrolling all the time. They start rolling & sometimes don't stop until they hit furniture or each other. Here's Mal:

And here's Jake:

Jake has also started scooting some when he's on his tummy. He looks like an inchworm, drawing his legs up under his little hiney & then pushing forward. We're in for mass chaos before too long!

All Together Now

Just a quick update that Jake is now rolling from back to tummy as well. He finally figured out how to get his arm out from under him today. I haven't been able to catch either of them on camera, but I'll try to do so soon. Enjoy the rain!

That's Just How We Roll

The twins are finally big enough to use their jogging stroller that Grandma & Grandpa gave them. We took it out for a test drive last weekend when Nana & Papa were here. It is so much easier to drive over bumpy sidewalks than the regular stroller!
In other rolling news, we had about a week of very rough nights because the twins figured out how to roll over in their cribs. They sleep on their tummies but were rolling onto their backs & then either deciding it was play time or crying because they couldn't figure out how to get back onto their tummies. I think they're getting used to this new skill now, so the commotion has calmed down.

Mallory also rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time last Sunday & has been practicing all week. We've tried valiantly to get video footage of this, but she doesn't like to cooperate for the camera. Jake hasn't quite conquered rolling in that direction yet, but he is very close. He can't figure out how to free his arm once he rolls onto it.

Here are a few cute pics from recent days.
J had a little photo shoot with the babies to play with his camera, & he got some good ones. Jake was trying to get Mallory, & she was in a giggly mood.
Mal's expression isn't great in this one, but I love Jake's.
Again, what a handsome boy! Mal is practicing her shy look here.
Speaking of rolls, check out the ones on this cutie. He has been working on sitting up lately, & the curved changing table seemed to help him. Lately they seem so grown up to me all of a sudden. Where did my tiny babies go?
I just went to get a pedicure & narrowly missed the diaper blowout that Mal blessed J with. How lucky can a mommy get? Have a great rest of the weekend!

Meet Ranger

This is Jake & Mal's newest friend, Ranger Lee. He is only a week old! We got to go & visit him in the hospital last week. Here I am with him & his gorgeous mommy, Miranda.The twins didn't get to play with him yet, but we did manage to get a group shot. Ranger has the most beautiful black hair. I would pet him all day if he were mine!
Congratulations Chad & Miranda!