Happy Easter...and 39 sundays home now!

Happy 1st Easter mister truman and miss aubrey! We were delighted to welcome three more people for the extended Easter weekend. My mom (grandma terri), my brother (uncle "nafan") and my sister (auntie shannon) flew in Friday and were able to stay until Monday. They were sneaky about it though because I only thought my mom and brother were coming. And when they pulled up in their rental car they came to the door and I was so very happy to have them here. Then after a 5 minute wait they stole the babies from me so I could answer the knock on the door. I thought for sure it was a neighbor, but I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the door and it was shannon. In fact, I think my exact words were "shannon, what the crap!" (yes, my mom and brother dropped her off at the end of the block and made her walk to pull off the delay...they are full of "master plans.") You see she had told me just the day before that she was packing up her car to go to Duluth with her family since everyone else had somewhere to go. I honestly believed her. I guess I am still the very gullible sibling!

So, there we were, the four of us together again. The last time that happened was when mikey deployed to iraq. It was nice and we ALL got to enjoy mom's easter ham dinner. NUMMY! We had lots of fun despite the rainy weather and nights of little to no sleep (thank you miss aubrey). I didn't have to do the baby duty every night, the rule was whoever was sleeping in the master bedroom was in charge...I actually slept in the guest bedroom one night AND I even got to SLEEP IN...now that's awesome!

I have plenty of photos from the weekend. You can tell the kids enjoyed all the extra attention and were loving all the new tricks and play time. Hope everyone enjoys, it was a wonderful 39th Sunday.

mister truman

miss aubrey

Oh the fun they all had...miss aubrey and mister truman SO miss their playmates.

...see dad, I can still stand on the couch, just a little taller now!

Happy Easter! Everyone dressed up for church, with a few minor adjustments because of the cold weather.

an old video of the mini's...

This is an old video, but I had to try a short one to see if I could upload a video. Here is a short glimpse into their dad playing with them when they were just 2 months old, it's true...dad's have more fun!

...another bug hit our home

...no, this is not a "baby timeout," we were hit hard with yet another virus. This time I had vomiting kids, which meant a lot of grossness all over me! The photo below was from day one before mister truman was sideswiped by the bug. He never wanted to be far from his sister, which is why I put her in the pack-n-play. His way of showing affection is to roll onto you and lay his head on you. It's cute until you have him laying on his sister who is trying to vomit. You can tell he is the softie of the bunch, his sister never cuddles and all he wants to do is cuddle. (sorry mikey...your boy is a cuddle bug!)

Anyhow, it was only a 6 hour delay and he had it. So for four days we had a lot of pedialyte, laundry and mini naps. I think it is finally safe to say that we are done with it, the mini's have kept two meals down in the past 18 hours, which is a record thus far. Let's hope that after this winter/spring we've gone through all the viruses and will have a sick-free summer!

tata for now,

annie & mini's

38 sundays

38 sundays

mister truman

miss aubrey

...bonus photos from this past week...

still trying to figure out how to move forward more often then reverse

"hey, this is where that rainforest chair is hiding"

mister truman has found a new room of the house, soon he'll be all over!

35, 36 & 37 sundays

We've had grandma Jan at our house visiting for 2 weeks, and the mini's LOVED the grandma time. I can especially tell that we had an extra adult here when they get jealous if I am holding their sibling and not them. The mini's couldn't make it an uneventful visit for Grandma, they had to train her in the multiple trips to the doctors office right away. Thankfully she was here to help with the new nebulizer treatments and reminding me when medications needed to happen. She was gracious enough to stay until they got healthy...nothing like a little grandma TLC to make things ALL better.

On another note, the past few weeks I've begun to think they have true feelings and can be sad, emotionally hurt or jealous. The other day mister Truman was laying on the ground, looking at miss Aubrey sitting there just chatting her ear off. While he was in mid-sentence she burst into sad tears, he must have said something mean to her...if only I could understand their language! Of course once she started to cry then he followed. Call me crazy but I think my kids are getting their "sensitive feelings."

35 sundays

mister truman

miss aubrey

bonus photos from 35th sunday...

36 sundays

mister truman

miss aubrey

37 sundays

mister truman

miss aubrey

...bonus photos from 37th sunday!

(family photos will be interesting for the next few years!)

...this is what miss aubrey thinks of all these photos!

Now we just need to survive 2 more sundays until Grandma Terri and Uncle Nafan come visit! We LOVE visitors, so let us know if you want to head our way!

...until next sunday,

Annie and mini's

EIGHT months old!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!

These mini's are growing fast, eight months already...wow. I know that is what every parent says, but it's true. Some days are very LONG, but collectively the weeks/months go fast. Always learning new tricks and letting their personalities shine, it's evident to me how different they really are. Each child is their own person.

Mister Truman may look like his daddy, but he is very much a "spaz" so most say he has my personality. (thanks people, thanks!) He is our "mister personality" that will shine a smile or give a giggle to anyone. Miss Aubrey may look like my side of the family, yet she is our calm observer. Yes, she's like her daddy. She's a tough cookie to crack, she won't give just anyone a smile and trying to get her to giggle is a BIG job. Overall, both these babes live up to their "gender stereotype." Here are some new things from the past couple of months:

• mister truman: 19 lbs. 3 oz; 27 3/4" tall (head is still in the 93rd percentile!)
• miss aubrey: 18 lbs; 26" tall (head is still itty bitty)
• mister truman has three teeth, miss aubrey has one tooth
• mister truman has mastered the army crawl, miss aubrey crawls backwards and rocks
• mister truman and miss aubrey talk all day - dada, baba, bobo, everything but mama
• both have been ill for 6 weeks solid
• mister truman gives hugs
• miss aubrey still cannot figure out how to blow raspberries, but she'll be great at blowing out her birthday candles
• mister truman loves to give zerberts
• miss aubrey has a crush on mickey mouse
• mister truman and miss aubrey sometimes talk to one another when they should be going to sleep...they love crib chat time
• mister truman and miss aubrey love to sleep on their side and up against a corner of their crib, most often towards each other
• they STILL steal toys from one another, but often I find mister truman hands a new toy to his sister before he steals from her...so we call that a trade!
• they are both all over the house so our ottoman, and any other extra furniture is used as "gates" from the dvd's, and other items they just shouldn't be into!

Happy Birthday mini's - you are loved by so very many...especially your mom and dad. Kisses.

34 sundays

...another sunday closer to a year of these mini's being home! In the past couple of weeks we've had some more changes. Miss Aubrey now is a proud owner of her first tooth! (bottom right) Mister Truman is officially a master at the army crawl and has already learned how to "turn on the charm" when the word "no" is uttered from my mouth. Miss Aubrey took an adventure and found a new area of the home, all on her own! They don't crawl so I still have one up on the speed of them, but they are getting quicker at squirming their way around. It won't be long until I will be running laps in the house trying to capture them! At least I'll save money by not needing a gym membership.

They are both enjoying having a variety of tastes to their meal times, they even like squash! And just this week I decided to give them some banana puffs, it was utter enjoyment watching their expressions. The first time they just stared at these foreign objects in front of them, then would look at me with confusion. The second time I put them in their mouths and Miss Aubrey decided it just wasn't for her...she automatically spit it out and since it was stuck on her bottom lip she kept trying to push it off with her tongue. She was NOT impressed. Mister Truman kept it in his mouth, but wasn't sure why. The third time, Miss Aubrey picked one up and put it in her mouth and kept it there. She actually went back for a second one! Mister Truman, well he just decided he'd play "puff hockey" with them on his tray. Disclaimer: I don't give them because I think they need snacks, rather I want them to learn hand/eye coordination...so maybe I can soon give them their spoon and they will feed themselves so I can just eat bonbons on the couch during meal time! ha.

They are definitely growing quickly and keeping this house a busy one. I enjoy all of it and constantly have the video camera out trying to capture every moment for their daddy. I am fairly certain they think the camera is just part of me now! Well, enjoy and maybe soon I'll figure out how to put videos on here so everyone can see them in action. OH, I also had too many cute/funny photos for these weeks so I put bonus photos at the end...feel free to comment with some clever captions!

33 sundays

miss aubrey

mister truman

34 sundays

miss aubrey

mister truman

bonus photos!

share any clever captions you have...

...until next sunday,

annie and mini's