I interrupt this blog for a very important Amber Shoe Alert

MISSING

Description: blue and white leather Pediped left shoe size 0-6 months.

Last weekend while we were downtown Preston lost his shoe. I loved these shoes so much and am really sad that it was lost. Nana gave the babies a pair each last Christmas and they have been able to wear them throughout the summer. Aaron and I went and looked everywhere we had been but never found it.

So if you see it send it our way =(

OK you can continue what you were doing.

Doctor update

I took the babies to the Dr on Friday. Originally both babies were congested and had some yellowish boogies. Oh and did I mention Aaron was in Halifax Wed and Thur? Yea so my week was fun. **STAY TUNED FOR MY NIGHT OUT POST!!!**
They started to clear up about Thursday but then Preston started pulling at his ear so I decided to take them both in on Friday. I didn't have an appointment so we went to the walk in clinic and waited for an hour and a half. Once we got back the doctor was really nice, great with the babies and took his time. You would think that as many people as there were in the waiting room we would be rushed but we weren't. He looked at Preston's ears and only his right one is infected. He looked at Lily's and he said both of hers are infected. Her left was red but her right ear drum was bulging. She didn't seem to be in pain at all, she must have my pain tolerance. Like I said Preston is the one that I knew had an ear infection. Both babies got Amoxicillin and are to take it 3 x per day for 10 days. I can not tell you how thankful I am to have taken them to the dr before our trip. I hope they will be all clear for take off in 13 days!!!! Crap 13 days I have not done a thing.
Lily weighs 18 lbs (8 kg) and Preston 21 lbs (9.5 kg)

Our eating out days ARE OVER!!!

Seriously... we have tried and tried but we can't deny it anymore.
We are a family who likes to eat out. We have done so since the babies were 8 weeks old. We usually go out to eat on Friday nights as a family to enjoy each other's company and catch up on our week. The past 2 or 3 times though have been difficult. Tonight for example we went to eat mexican food it was about 5:30 so I figured we would just feed the babies when we got there. We did feed them while we were waiting for our food but of course when our food gets to the table the babies are all full and by then it was about 7 so they were ready for bed. Lesson learned. Oh and not to mention now that the babies sit in high chairs we have to get a table that has room for all of us. Also the stupid waiter comes and says "hot plate" but still sets it right in front of Lily I practically knocked the table over trying to push the "hot plate" away from her reach. Moron, if it's hot don't set it in front of a baby. Ahhh the days when we could bring the infant carrier into a restaurant and just give them a bottle when the food arrived. I am sure we will try again but not every Friday night like we used to. Ashley has been saving money for her Ipod touch, so she can babysit. hehe
So are there people who eat out with their 1 yr olds? If so how do you do it?

I noticed I have not posted a video lately so here is one for all of those back home that can't wait 13 DAYS!!!!!! to see us.



Some cuuuuuuute pics of Lily. She loves to splish splash in the bath sink.

New foods

Here in Newfoundland blueberries grow abundantly. We however have not been able to get out and pick them. So while we were at a farmers market last weekend we bought a few pints of fresh wild blueberries that looked so good. I decided to make some muffins yesterday and let me just tell you these are my new favorite breakfast/lunch/snack food. Anyway my actual point is that I gave some to the babies and they love them. They each ate a half of a muffin for breakfast.
Yesterday I steamed some crinkle cut carrots and cut them up for them to eat. Lily is really good at feeding herself but Preston still hasn't mastered this skill.
Oh and while we were at Costco on Saturday we gave them some samples of cheese bread. My 6 jars of baby food a day are slowly dwindling down as we introduce more and more real food to them. I am not sure what to do about meat though. It seems all the real food they eat is veggies, cheese, bread and fruits. Their meat still comes from the 3rd food meals (chicken and rice, turkey and veggies, beef with pasta)

"The first 3 months are the hardest"

I find myself saying this phrase alot lately. Of course it is in the snootiest voice possible. Let me be the first to mention that I don't think the first 3 months are the hardest. They may be difficult because of the sleep deprived state you are in but by no means are they the hardest. I find that these past few months have been harder. We have been dealing with new sleep schedules, new foods, teething, lots of crawling and tears (due to falls from pulling up) . The past few days the babies have been sick. 2 nights in a row they have slept in their car seats. Saturday night Preston woke up and was so stopped up he couldn't breath. I rocked him and put him to sleep in his car seat. Sunday night it was Lily's turn she woke up but when you rock her she pops her head up and laughs. We finally got her back to sleep and put her in her car seat as well. Yesterday was a day of crying, no naps and major meltdowns. Aaron got home and didn't even have to ask "how was your day" Last night I learned my lesson and put them both in their car seats and they slept like a charm until 5:30 am. I decided just to give them a bottle and they went back to sleep until 8:30. Whew!! It was at 5:30 am that I reminded myself "the first 3 months are the hardest" All I can say is thank you daddy for hooking up the dvd so we can watch Baby Einstein. You pop in that dvd and you have 30 minutes to clean, cook, do laundry or lock yourself in the bathroom to have a moment of silence. I have been putting vapo rub on their chest to try and clear up their sniffles. I am also sanitizing everything in this house so we don't pass this gunk around. Today so far has been great. They both slept from 10:30 to 11:30 and are getting ready for lunch. Which is a whole new topic for tomorrow. They have a wide variety new foods now.
I guess what I am trying to say is that having children is a glorious thing and you have your good days and bad.

Pageant mom strikes again

My family has always said I am a pageant mom. When Ashley was young I would take pictures and instruct her to tilt her head, raise her chin and wipe that smirk off her face. lol Well with the babies it's no different. It's really hard to take a bad picture of such cute babies.

Here they are sitting on the bench at Signal Hill.

Preston shouting and Lily laughing. He is such a boy!

Peek a boo

I love this dress. It was loaned to us by cousin Presley.

Cruise ship in St John's harbor

Yesterday Aaron took off early so we could watch the last leg of the Targa Newfoundland. Well I had it all planned out. Little did I know the cars were running late and they don't race the whole time. They drive to a selected destination and race there. We checked online but could not find anything that would help us determine when we should be at the next race spot. Ashley had to be dropped off at her friends so that put us behind a little. We did finally find the last leg of the last race on the last day. How's that for planning? We only saw a few cars speed by but that was worth the lack of planning, I guess. I felt so bad for Aaron that is the one thing he wanted to see while we were here. Now we have to wait until next year. The event has a website but it doesn't give alot of information. Next year we will plan better. Aaron wants to drive out a few days before and watch some of the race from the western part of Newfoundland. After our Targa excitement we drove up to Signal Hill to see the cruise ship in the harbour. This time of year a few cruise ships per week will dock in the harbour. The one we saw is the Aurora from the United Kingdom, I think it's a 24 night cruise to America and Eastern Canada. Wow that would be awesome.

My sweet babies

Lily has been so sweet and has learned to give kisses. She now kisses everyone EXCEPT ME. She will kiss her bear, puppy and even a giraffe. It seems she loves anything with a face and cracks up if you show her a toy that has a face. She is too funny.


Lately we have been introducing more and more textures. Even to the non texture loving boy. I have given them the puff snacks. Similar to cereal but flavored. They love the blueberry and sweet potato flavors. The other night they had peas and I didn't even have to mash them up. Oh my and I also forgot how messy those teething biscuits are. I gave them some after lunch and ended up just putting them in the tub for some water fun. They loved them though and cried when they were done.

Preston crawled on all fours yesterday but quickly went back to scooting. Well he more like drags his legs as he pulls himself forward with his arms. He has some serious upper body strength, he could be the world's strongest baby. HAHA He doesn't seem to mind the scooting and neither do I.

OK so what else.

ASHLEY made her cheer leading squad. I am so proud of her. She tried out for top but ended up being chosen for base. The squad is more of a competition where they go to each school and have competitions and eventually got to provincial (state) finals. She has also made some friends. Mostly during the week there is a friend over after school. She met a girl from Tennessee who has only lived here for 1 month. She is always fixing her hair. Here is one when she curled it. If Ashley is ever missing that means she is up in her room fixing her hair. She is so beautiful!

We have definitely seen a temperature drop lately. We woke up this morning to a chilly 43 degrees and blue clear skies. I love it!!!

Some cute pics

These are all the clothes that are too small for them........ =(
Lily looking so cute
Preston blowing bubbles in his cool new socks
Another fall picture haha
Someone came to the house today to ask about our driveway needing to be sealed. As he walked away he asked, isn't it too early for Halloween decorations.......seriously is it any of his business. Anyway I said no actually it's fall and it starts on the 22nd. He said oh your not from around here are you? What a jackass. That's a way to get a customer.....idiot!!!!

Some pics from the car show. They had some awesome cars.

Look Tash it's HUGGER ORANGE!!!

Look how tiny these wheels are.

Fall decorations

I put up the fall type stuff but stayed away from the ghosts and goblins until at least October. Not much else going on around here. We had curriculum night at the school last night where we got to meet Ashley's teachers. I approached the principal and asked why they can't do something about off campus lunch and he said the school is overcrowded and he doesn't have room for 500 students to eat lunch at the same time in the cafeteria. I explained to Ashley she is not allowed to go to the mall. The principal said that about 50% of the kids go to the mall for their lunch hour. He even said that there have been accidents (one girl actually got run over) fights and problems with kids smoking but still they can't do anything about it. It irritates the heck out of me. As long as I know Ashley isn't one of them going over there I guess I will deal with it.

On another note I have talked to my mom. She decided at the last minute on Friday to go to a friends house out in Kingwood. She is now glad she did. A tree fell on one side of her trailer and another on her storage building in the back where the lawnmower, freezer and other tools are kept. She is very thankful to be alive and well.

Playing outside

Lily looks lost

Hurricane Ike

I have been anxiously waiting and worrying about this hurricane. Yesterday before it made land fall I had a few crying spells. For some reason I feel if I was there it would somehow help. What am I going to do throw my super powers up and make it go away?!?!?! HA!!
Last night until around 2 am I stayed up to watch the storm make landfall in Galveston. Today I have been watching Fox news, CNN and several live feeds on the internet to asses the damage. I wish they would stop showing stuff from yesterday and just show videos and pictures of damage today. It irritates me when they say oh we just got new footage we will show it to you in a few minutes, seriously!
I have talked to most of my friends and family down there and they all have done ok. Some without power but no major damage. If you have never lived anywhere near an approaching hurricane it is hard to understand why every news show broadcasts it and why they act so serious when there is a storm approaching. It may or may not be bad but you never really know until the storm passes. Either way it's scary stuff.
I have not been able to reach my mom. I am sure she is fine but since she doesn't have a home phone I can only try her cell phone which just goes to voicemail. So mom if you have electricity and you are reading this CALL ME!!! I am sure she is fine but I gotta worry.
We did go out to the Targa Newfoundland car show today. They had some awesome cars, even a few Camaro's. Oh and 2008 Dodge Challenger. I have pictures but am too tired to upload them now. Targa Newfoundland is a rally car race around the island. It starts and ends in St John's. We met a few guys from Ft Worth, Texas who drove in yesterday after making the 3200 mile trip. They are in the 1988 BMW M3 So of course we will be cheering for them. Last year the race was broadcast on Speedtv but I am not sure if it will be again this year.
Tomorrow I will post my fall decorating pictures. I am so excited for fall. I am sure you are tired of hearing about fall already, lol
take care-

Some cute pics

I have started something else new. I am going to try giving the babies cups of apple juice at lunch. Of course it's more water than juice but you get the idea. They are still drinking 3 bottles per day, 24 oz of formula per day. I guess that's enough! I am not too sure. I would really love for the bottle to be gone by a year but that's just me wishful thinking. They are starting to be more like little people in the eating dept. They eat 3 meals per day with a bottle of formula about an hour after. They no longer need their 3:00 bottle and are perfectly fine from lunch (12:30 to 1) to dinner at 5:30. Next we will be working on table food. Yikes. I kind of like the ease of baby food, pop the top and you got a meal.

This morning we went to our weekly playgroup. I have meet some really awesome girls. They have really made me feel welcome. I guess it also helps that they love babies and I happen to have 2 of the cutest ones in the world. hehe The weather today is so beautiful nice and breezy with a nip int he air. Just like an actual fall day. My friend J said that soon the leaves will start changing. I can't wait to see that. I will be sure to share pictures for all of my friends and family who still see 80 (27 c) degree temps in the fall.

Go away Hurricane Ike stay away from my hometown and my beloved family and friends. I am really really worried about this storm. I am not sure if it's media hype but they are saying it's the "BIG" one. They always say that though. I will be glued to my computer and tv for the next few days watching the storm coverage so if anyone down there who doesn't have electricity would like to call me I can be your weather center.
love to all!

Finally a picture of Lily's tooth

Preston drinking some juice at lunch.

Aaron and Preston taking a snooze

Back into a routine

We are settling back into our routine. Ashley is in school and the babies are back to their 10 and 2 naps.
I have been trying some new things lately. Yesterday I gave the babies a 3 o clock snack when they woke from their nap. They had mandarin oranges and cheerios. They loved it! They aren't so good at feeding themselves yet but they loved the oranges. I just mashed them up with my fingers and fed it to them. I bought some of those little mandarin orange cups at Costco for Ashley's lunch but now that the babies like them it's a healthy snack for everyone. The cheerios I broke into 3 or 4 pieces and they mashed them up with their gums.

We have also been doing well keeping the infant seats in the car. Preston is getting so heavy it's pretty difficult to carry him in the infant seat. The only bad thing is if they are sleeping then you have to unbuckle them and get them out obviously waking them up. I am trying to not take the infant seat out at all so we can put the convertible car seats in there. It's a little easier said than done though. Some stores only have a buggy that holds one baby. What do you do with the other? What if there is no buggy? Do you take the stroller in and hope it fits? I don't know why this is so hard for me to comprehend. I have put the baby carrier in the car in case I need it. My goal from today is not take the infant seats out of the car. I will let ya know how that works out.

I am hoping to start baby signing soon. I am not sure when is a good time to start I need to email Tasha (sil) to ask her. Her son, Jakob, could sign just about anything. I remember it made communication so much easier.

What a day!

We went to Ashley's last soccer game, gold medal game! Their team came in second so they got the silver. After we got home the babies were playing around on the floor and we saw blood on Preston's pants. At first I thought it was him but it was Lily. She cut her finger on the baseboard heater. She never cried we just saw blood. We set her in the sink so she could play in the water and get her fingers washed off and put some band aids on them. We put a band aid on each finger but her fingers were still bleeding through so I had to get out the gauze. She cried because the gauze was on there.


Poor thing her fingers finally stopped bleeding.

After the Lily drama Preston and daddy settled in to watch some football.
Lily showed off how she can climb the stairs.

Aaron has uploaded lots of pictures. Click on his web album to the right.

take care- Staci

Just had to share

This picture of the babies. When they wake up in the morning I put Lily in Preston's bed or vice versa so I can brush my teeth and put my contacts in. They keep each other busy so I can get myself ready for the day. I came back in to both of them standing and looking at each other as if they were thinking, oh wow we can both stand, boy is mom going to have fun now!!

10 months and more

Well actually 10 month and 4 days. They are getting around so well. Lily pulls up on everything and yesterday she climbed the bottom step on the stairs. Yikes! Preston can now pull himself up in his crib but he hasn't pulled up on anything else yet. Lily is a full crawler on all fours. She is quick too. Let the baby proofing begin. I think that will be my project for the weekend. We already have the standard baby proofing done (plugs, cords, choking hazards) I am talking gates, mount furniture to walls type thing here. As far as food goes Lily doesn't mind textures and different foods but Preston does. Nana made them some mashed potatoes and he didn't care for them at all. So for now they are still on stage 2 foods. lol I give them chunkier stuff like fresh avocados, bananas or sweet potatoes but it's mostly stage 2.

Ashley's first day of school yesterday went well. She met a few girls and has a locker buddy. They have the big lockers and 2 people share. She is going to attempt to ride the bus home today so she can figure out the route. She is pretty happy with the school but she said that they switch classes but with the same group of kids that are in their homeroom. Basically you are with the same kids all day long. She is going to sign up for volleyball, soccer and junior climbing club so I am sure she will have friends in no time.

We have been getting back into a routine lately. We rented a few movies the past few days and have been watching them with Ashley after the babies go to bed. So far we have seen The Simpson movie (pretty funny) Dan in Real Life (really funny) Cloverfield (the way the movie is filmed is weird but if you can get past that it's really good) and The Bucket List (my favorite, It's a feel good film and I always love those)

Nature Park

I have been wanting to go to the nature park all summer. We decided to go yesterday since Aaron was off and from Labor day to Thanksgiving it's only open Mon - Fri. The mile and half walk winds through the forest on a boardwalk that goes over bogs and creeks. The animals were in a natural habitat type enclosure unlike a traditional zoo. It was a really nice place and I wish we would have gone sooner. Here are a few pictures.

Moose

Canada goose
Artic fox
American mink
Horned Owl Snowy Owl
Woodchuck
Bald Eagle

A rare picture of us!

Twin bond

As the babies get older I notice more of a bond between them. If one of them wakes up before the other I can hear grunts and shouts as if they are trying to wake the other one up. The other day at the store Ashley was pushing Lily and I was pushing Preston in a separate buggy. We were on 2 different aisle but the babies keep calling back and forth all over the store. Lily would yell, then Preston back and forth until they saw each other again so they could crack up laughing at each other's sight. If one is is a different room then the other they look around as if they are looking for each other. Will this twin bond last? In my mind I picture them being bff's all their life. I am sure there will be bouts of fighting but right now I am enjoying the little bond they have.