We are counting down the days...

until we get to see these guys! This is my oldest brother, Matt, his wife, April and my precious nephews, Luke, Josh, and Caleb! They moved to Hong Kong last August because God led them there to minister to the multitudes of college students there. They answered the call, left Auburn where they started a college ministry, Grace Campus, and have been living in HK ever since. We got to see Matt when he came back to the U.S. for a few days, but we haven't seen April and the boys since last August. We miss them so much! But, we are sooooooooo excited that they are coming the second week in June for six weeks. It will be such a fun time! I CANNOT wait for them to meet sweet Avery and Caroline!!

More pictures!

This child...(Avery, if you can't tell them apart)

ABSOLUTELY

ADORES

this

blanket!!!

Thanks Aunt Ginny for sending it to us!! As I previously mentioned in another post, Avery loves soft, fuzzy blankets and loves to have them right around her face. One day, I wanted to see what she would think about just being in her diaper with the blanket over her. She went crazy! She absolutely loved it!! It was the cutest thing.

Avery and Caroline "playing" with each other. They still enjoy being right near each other, kicking their legs, and grabbing each other's hands and arms.

12 pounds???

Lately, a lot of people have been asking me how much the girls weigh, but since we haven't been to the doctor in a month and don't go back for another month, I don't really know what to say. So much changes in a month. Well, now I am thinking they must be at least 12 pounds because.....THEY ARE SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! Our pediatrician says that 12 pounds is the magical number for sleeping through the night. This has been going on since last Wednesday night but I didn't want to call it too early. I had to wait and make sure that it continued and it has! Braxton and I are so excited. It has made all the difference! We give the girls a bottle at ten, swaddle them, and they sleep until 5 a.m.!!

12 Weeks!!

Avery

Avery...

• Is so sweet! You can tell she just loves to be around people.


• Rolled from front to back for the first time last week! Once she figured it out, she did it three more times in a row.


• Has a huge appetite, never misses a meal, and continues to drink her bottles sooooo fast!


• Burps so loud! Last Sunday during church, my SIL Lindsey fed her and then was trying to burp her. Avery had sucked down the bottle so fast so I knew there was going to be a big one heading our way. Sure enough, as I had my head bowed during a prayer, Avery lets out a huge loud burp! A lot of people turned around and started laughing. My mom, who was at the front of the church, heard it all the way up there and we were on the very last row. My mom knew exactly who it was!


• LOVES to spend time with Caroline! She would lay next to Caroline for hours if Caroline would stay that long. Avery gets this sweet, almost shy looking smile on her face when we put her near Caroline. It is important to us to give them good quality time together!


• Is very animated! She makes lots of different facial expressions and noises.


• This girl can stretch! I will have to get it on video for ya'll. She loves to stretch and makes the cutest noise to go with it!


• Loves to be held!


• Plays well on the activity mat alone, but prefers to have either Braxton, Caroline or me near her.


• Is still bigger than Caroline


• Is a great napper! Once I get her to sleep, she will nap for a few hours at a time!
  
• Loves to put soft, fuzzy blankets up near her face. If I cover her with one, she will use her fists to bring it up to her face and will start moving her face all over it.

Caroline




Caroline...

• Is also a very sweet baby who loves to be around people.


• Loves to be held and is super cuddly!


• Is more of a cat napper. She will take little naps on and off all day. I am still working on getting the girls to nap at the same time.


• Usually has her hands in a fist and her toes curled. I have to pry her hands open and they usually have some blanket fuzz in them!


• Is not a fan of tummy time.


• Has a dimple on her left cheek! It is the cutest thing. You may not be able to see it in the picture above.


• LOVES being on the changing table. I have no idea why! She can be screaming crying and we lay her on the changing table, she will stop. This is without a diaper change. She just likes something about it.


• Will kick her leg through any opening between buttons. We always put them in Kissy Kissy night gowns that button down the front to sleep in and when we unswaddle her to change her diaper, most of the time she has one leg through a gap between the buttons. It always cracks us up!


• Always thinks she is falling. She throws her arms out like she is falling all the time! Poor thing- I hate that she thinks that.


• Likes to feel secure.

Both girls...

• Enjoy their baths and going on walks.


• Love to be held.


• Wear size 1 diapers and 3 month clothes


• Still have blue eyes


• Are very good in the car


• Don't like to be rocked. They prefer to for us to walk around patting their bottoms until they fall asleep.


• Know that they are about to have a bottle when they feel a burp cloth under their chin. We always put a burp cloth under their chin when we feed them so it doesn't drip down their neck. Because we do this everytime, they have picked up on it. How I know this is, they will immediately stop crying if they were crying once we put the burp cloth there or they will start to smile if they weren't crying. I think they are going to be smart girls! :)

Good News!

I am officially going to be a stay at home mama!! Braxton and I think that it is really important for me to be home with the girls. I couldn't imagine it any other way. I have taught special education for the last six years and will definitely miss my friends at work and my students! It was a very rewarding and meaningful job to me, but so will this next leg of my journey. Needless to say, going from two salaries to one, we will have to make some lifestyle changes around here. So, if anyone has any good money saving/budgeting tips for me, please send them my way!

My First Mother's Day Weekend

Yes, I celebrated all weekend! It began on Friday afternoon when I met these sweet friends below at the Renaissance Hotel in Montgomery. The other girls spent the night there, but it's too early for me to spend the night away from my babies. Although, sleeping through the night was VERY tempting to say the least. Anyway, we had wine and appetizers in the hotel room before getting dressed and heading out to dinner. On our way to dinner, we asked one of the valet guys to take a picture of us. Sidenote: This guy looked EXACTLY like Chris Rock and if Chris Rock did not have such a distinct voice I would have thought that I was on some hidden camera show. He said that he gets told that he looks like him everyday. We went to Lek's for dinner and sat outside! It was very nice and relaxing! After dinner, we went back to the hotel and sat outside and listened to the live music. We had such a fun night! I headed home after that to get some sleep before my spa day!!

Me, Lindsey, Hadley, Lauren, and Kimberly

On Saturday, I met back up with everyone at the hotel spa! We each got a pedicure and just enjoyed relaxing in the spa. I so enjoyed being pampered!! After the spa, we laid out by the pool, relaxed, and visited with each other. It was wonderful. We missed you Jenny and Haden!

On Sunday, Braxton let me sleep in which was awesome! He cooked cinnamon rolls for me for breakfast.

Braxton and the girls gave me a sweet card, a beautiful picture frame with a family picture of us, these new wine glasses....

and



this hands free soap dispenser! I have always wanted one of these. How nasty is a regular soap dispenser?! It is where you go and what you touch every time you need to wash your hands! For those of you who know me well, you know how excited I was to receive this. You just stick your hand under the dispenser and soap appears in your hand. You can even set it to different amounts of soap to be dispensed. Braxton said that he knew the way to my heart was a picture of my family, something wine related, and something sanitary!!! So true!!!

After my wonderful Mother's Day weekend, this arrived at my house on Monday! This is all free formula just for having twins! Last time I was at the pediatrician's office, he told me about this free formula. All I had to do was fill out a form specifying what kind I would like and fax it in. This is going to save us a ton of money!

I am so blessed that God chose to entrust sweet Caroline and Avery to my care! They have brought so much joy to our life. It is such an honor and privilege to be their mommy!!

Playtime!!

Caroline and Avery love to play together on this "Under the Sea" playmat! They like to kick their legs (and each other), swat at the hangy down things (especially the ball), and stare at all of the different colors and patterns.

Caroline and Avery



Caroline enjoying her playtime!

Avery excited about playing!

Avery staring intently at the colors and patterns.

Congratulations!

Congratulations Braxton! As of today, Braxton is a Financial Advisor for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney! He went to work for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney this past December and has been studying, testing, and training since then. He finished his training last week in New Jersey. Being a Financial Advisor has been a dream of his for a long time! Braxton is genuinely excited about being able to help people. Thank you for working so hard for our family Braxton! I am proud of you!!

What We've Been Up To

Braxton came back from New Jersey Friday night! It was so good to see him. We missed him so much! It was hard for him to be away from us, especially the girls. They had just really started smiling before he left, so he was dying to get home to see more of it!

The girls had their two month checkup this past week. I can't believe they are already two months old! It has flown by! Anyway, their appointment went well. They are both totally healthy! Caroline weighed 9 lbs., 14 oz and Avery weighed 10 lbs., 8 oz. Don't forget Avery was the smaller baby when they were born! She has a very healthy appetite! She will suck down a bottle in a heartbeat. Caroline likes to take her time and enjoy hers! They had to get three shots each. They handled it really well while it was happening, but they were really fussy the rest of the afternoon and evening. They both wanted to be held and pretty much slept all day. If we moved at all, they would scream. I felt so bad for them. Thankfully, my parents were there to help me!

Here is Caroline sucking her thumb. She doesn't do this consistently. She will stick any number and configuration of fingers into her mouth if they get anywhere near her mouth. She sucks very loudly! It is the cutest thing to me!!

Caroline smiling! Both girls have been smiling like crazy!! I will post pictures of Avery smiling on my next post. Her pictures are on my phone and I am not sure of how to get them on the computer.

Here the girls are "playing" with Drew (my best friend Mary's baby). They were born a week apart. I made Drew's outfit!

Caroline and Avery holding hands. They were napping together and I went over to check on them and this is what I found. Absolutely precious!!!

Avery and Caroline spooning. They love to cuddle with each other! You may notice in our pictures that Avery always has the yellow and green paci and Caroline has the pink and purple paci. We do this to try to minimize the swapping of germs. I know it is inevitable, but hopefully it helps some!