Tidbits

There are so many things going on in this house lately that I will make it easy by posting small tidbits of our week.

*Preston can crawl and clap.......got it on video, will post tomorrow

*As I was taking pictures of the babies in the yard yesterday Preston let go of the tree and stood for a few seconds. I didn't notice until I looked back through the pictures then said "oh crap Preston is standing" will post pic tomorrow.

*Since Thursday the babies have only had:
a bottle at bedtime
half formula/half whole milk in sippy cups the rest of the day
2 jars of baby food........total.

*Aaron and I had a night to our self since Ashley stayed at her friends tonight. We watched Sex and the City (movie) I would recommend not watching that movie while kids are in the house.

*Today we bought a snow blower, snow suit for Lily and a swim suit for Lily. Gotta love when you can buy those things all in one day. The swim suit is 18 months and I got at Gap for $4. I couldn't pass up that deal.

*Elton John concert was amazing. I can mark that off my things to do before I die list. He played for 3 hours, just him and his piano. I cried when he came on stage and when he sang Tiny Dancer.

*Thursday Aaron and I went bowling, 5 pin bowling they use a ball the size of a softball. It was hilarious.

*We are getting ready for our trip this week. I am so excited to be in Texas and hanging out with the family and eating at all my favorite places. Whataburger, Del Pueblo, Chik Fil A, Sonic, look out we are coming to town.

Win a new bedroom contest

Janice and Susan over at 5 minutes for mom are having a sleeping angel contest. If I win I would choose the Summer Breeze bedroom set for Preston. Unless of course I can win both of them since I do have the sweetest sleeping angels on the planet. Anyway it was really hard finding a picture. I found one of each of them but the site says only one picture. I wouldn't want Janice and Susan to have to pick between the 2 cutest babies on the planet so I decided on a picture that had both of them in it. Finalist will be announced on the 5 minutes for mom website on Oct 15th at that time voting will also begin. I will let ya know if I am a finalist so the voting can begin.

Weekend fun

Oh the love

Ashley and Lily outside during the birthday party.

Lily chewing on the binky.

Such a sweet girl

Is this how you hold it dad?

This past weekend we had lots of fun. Well I know I did. Friday night I went out all by myself. A friend of mine, Jenn (Canada Jenn not to be confused with Houston Jenn) is moving away so we all had a going away party for her. Let me just tell you my side hurt the next day I laughed so hard. These ladies are hilarious. There were about 12 of us all hanging out talking, drinking, eating and lots of laughing until about 2 am. I had a blast. It is so nice to have made friends here. It makes moving to a new country so much easier.

Saturday Aaron went to the office while me and the kids went shopping. Ashley needed some clothes, as always. We didn't buy much since we are going to Texas soon she can get stuff there.

Sunday we had a birthday party for Beth's 2 yr old, Jayden. Whoa there were lots of kids but it's not bad when there are 15 kids in one place because they are so well behaved. I think I am going to have a party for the babies when we get back from Texas. Since they will be one we are celebrating while we are in Texas but I want to have something here too.

Speaking of the babies we are 11 MONTHS OLD today!!! Where has the time gone? They haven't done many new things from 10 to 11 months. Lily does have 2 bottom teeth now. Preston has zero but still eats everything Lily does. We now only use about 2 jars of stage 3 baby food per day. I have been feeding the stage 3 meals for dinner or lunch since I really haven't been able to find meat to introduce. I have been on the hunt for the Gerber meat sticks but 2 grocery stores I have been to don't have them. Hmmm strange. Yesterday for dinner they had a sweet potato with spinach mixed in. They did not like spinach alone so I created a combo meal. They also had ham. I made a honey baked ham and cut up some small bits for them and they loved it. Today for lunch I am planning on giving them black beans. YUM!!! I figure they can eat anything as long as it's not loaded with sugar and salt and is small enough for them to chew.

This has to be the longest post but I will leave you with a video of bath time last night.

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