Shenanigans

Hi All,
The twinners are up to all sorts of interesting things. They spend a lot of time babbling. Bree has started to say Mom and Mama, and could not seem to stop saying it today. First words for her - yay! I think I may have heard an occasional da-da somewhere in there, too. (Lots of ahh sounds - ma, da, ba, ka)
They are also covering lots of territory around the house. They now crawl outside the living room area to all rooms on the main floor.
Besides that, they enjoy horsing around together. Here they are in Bree's crib......

And here is some footage on how they interact. There is a small battle for Mortimer Moose, but in the end, Drew decides chewing on Bree is way more fun than that moose could ever be!



And speaking of chewing, Drew and Bree are chewing up a storm these days. I think teething is here to stay for a while.

In high chair news, we just started the kiddos on graham crackers. Drew LOVES feeding himself them! Here's a shot of him eating a cracker. As you can see, it's not the cleanest encounter. He had a piece stuck to his cheek for a while, and I just had to take a picture before I let him in on the secret.....

And Bree, she actually fell asleep in her high chair for the first time. She's usually a little more engaged than this when she eats!

Stay tuned for future shenanigans!

Lil' Spartans

Okay Spartan fans - this is what you've been waiting for! Our little Spartans made their MSU tailgate debut over the weekend. The weather wasn't the best, but we were plenty comfortable in our deluxe tailgate suite, fully enclosed in our EZ Ups, heated with propane tanks, and football on the tube (powered by the generator and via DishTV). Oh, and the food was to delish! We had deep fried turkey, pulled pork, mashed potatoes, and chocolate dump cake, just to name a few of the delicacies. Drew and Bree hung like champs for a few hours with us. Auntie Michelle came and picked them up a few hours before the evening game, so that Jim and I could attend. MSU made a great showing vs. Iowa ( # 6 in the nation). But in the end, we lost a heartbreaker in the last two seconds on the last play of the game. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the day and were glad we got to introduce the twinners to the art of tailgating.

GO STATE!!!

Hmmm, where are we and why are we here?

Oh, it's MSU - Go State!!!

Let's party!

We love when Auntie Sarah and her friends show up!

This ring is not bad, but I bet the turkey is better.

We know the turkey chef and carver personally.

Big and Little Drew - tailgater extraordinaire and tailgater in training.

8 Months!

Hi All,


Happy 8 Months to Drew and Bree!

It was bedtime before we got around to our chair shot, but we got it. :)

Can you believe Bree is reading already?!? :)

And Drew is still jumping away!

And we did our unofficial weigh in - Drew is 22.5 lbs. and Bree is 18.5 lbs. Still growing like weeds!

Teeth, Need I Say More?

Hi All,

We have more news on the home front. I happened to notice this morning that Drew's lower gum looked swollen. Well, this afternoon he had a mild case of the cranks. As I was headed out the door this evening, I asked Jim to check out his gums. Sure enough, we have two teeth peeking through his lower gum! Drew's first teeth are arriving 5 days before the twins turn 8 months old. As always, time marches on. I'm so glad Drew is weathering the teething so well. As wonderful (and useful) as teeth are, boy am I going to miss these toothless grins......

Hallo-weenies

Hi All,

We got our first taste of Halloween last night. P & M hosted Haunted Halls at their office, so we took the kiddos to join in the fun. We saw witches, the Scooby Doo crew, haunted offices, halloween boot camp, and candyland. And we scored lots of candy to take home!

Bree was a little chick and Drew sported two costumes - a lion and a hotdog. We took a chance and bought Halloween costumes on sale last fall, but Drew's was fitting on the small side, so he got another as back up. Well, he started out as the hot dog at Haunted Halls, but it wasn't long before he was overheating. (Our hotdog was roasted!) So, we switched to the albeit too small lion for the remainder of the evening.

Our happy little chick
Our hotdog - hold the ketchup
Ready for the first round of Haunted Halls And here's our little chick and ferocious lion!

Movin' Right Along

Hi All,
We're all doing well here. We have some news to share. Drew is now army crawling really well! It started last week when he decided he just had to have some shoelaces. And he's been at it ever since. He actually propels himself forward with both arms, versus just one like his sister. And he still likes to roll a lot; it serves him well!

Drew and Bree are also both independently sitting up quite well, too. This one was hard to measure, because how long do they have to sit up (before falling over) to count it? Anyway, we're comfortable that they can do it now. Here are some pictures of our little movers and shakers....

Our little stud muffin!

Hi Bree!

Um, Mom, can't you see we're a little busy here???

Mama's Boy

Hi All,
I got a bit of Drew this morning saying his "Mama" babble. He also gives you a wave at the end, which is another new trick. So cute!

Bree is up to her usual. If I call out to her, she likes to crawl towards me.

How Many Days Till Halloween???

Hey, did someone say Halloween is coming???

Because we are READY!!!!

Thanks to Nancy and Gene for our Halloween attire!

This Is How We Learn To Swim

Hi All,

Drew and Bree successfully completed their first course in swimming lessons. We had four classes at the East Hills Athletic Club that wrapped up a week ago. We got Drew and Bree started as soon as they reached the lower age limit of 6 months. They were the youngest in the class, which included children up to three years of age.
We got some pictures and video of our second lesson, as my parents came along in Jim's absence. Thanks to my mom for doing such a good job documenting the class in pictures!

Getting Ready for Class

There were some common elements of the class that were repeated each time. These included:

• Wheels on the Bus - We sang "Wheels on the Bus" while we hung onto them in the water. We had various motions for each verse of the song, including popping up out of the water and back in, waving hands open and shut, and splashing the water with a free hand.



• I'm a Little Ducky - We sat the kids on the side of the pool while we remained in the water facing them and sang "I'm a little ducky yessiree, I jump in on one, two, three." We placed them in the pool and then pulled them through the water, encouraging them to kick their feet. We did three short laps of this.

I'm a Little Froggy - Same as little ducky, but upon placing them in the water, we then rolled them onto their backs for the laps.

Underwater - The dreaded unterwater exercises! At Drew and Bree's age, we had to dunk them underwater two times each lesson. The older kids did more underwater exercises. We held them in the pool while facing them and started moving backwards, counting down from three. Then, in a smooth motion while still pulling them forward, we pulled them under for a few seconds and then out again. The trick was to attempt to keep them moving smoothly in and out of the water while keeping forward motion so that water did not go up their noses.

Backfloat Practice - The backfloat is an important safety element, so we practiced it often.

Overall, we really enjoyed the lessons. We appreciated that our instructor was very focused on safety and spent a lot of time talking to us about safety techniques. She pointed out that learning the back float is key to safety, since they can breathe if they can get into that position. This is a link to a really interesting video demo of an infant that learned to literally save himself from accidental plunges into the water after a 3 week course - http://www.infantswim.com/isr-experience/Miles.html.

As far as the underwater exercises, it's a nerve wracking thing to dunk your precious little infant into the the water like that. And, boy did they ever hate it! Jim said Drew came up from the water and gave him the worst look he's ever seen the first time they did it. And they cried. Bree actually got the hang of it by the end and could complete it without crying. Drew is still not a fan.

Otherwise, the kids as well as Jim and I enjoyed the time in the water and hope to continue to introduce them to water activities as they grow. I'm sure we'll take more lessons, but probably not for a few months. We can practice the back floating in the tub.

I'm Counting It

Hi All,

Drew started babbling his first word this week, and the winner is........

MaMa!!!!

I started hearing it quite clearly early on in the week, but did not say too much about it because I thought it just might be my own bias wanting to think he was saying mama. But my parents both visited on separate occasions this week and confirmed they also heard it, too. Jim is still a little skeptical. At any rate, I'm counting it! LOL! I don't think Drew associates any meaning to the word yet, but it's still fun to hear.

In other news, we're not back to our normal routine yet. But, I am thankful that I did get a full night's rest last night. Good thing, because the night before was awful. Jim has been hunting for a few days and returns today.

And a few pictures from this week......




I thought it was the cutest thing ever, Drew hugging Bree and then going in for a smooch. But Jim's interpretation was Drew was trying to rough his sister up, as if to say "I'm the boss around here!" What do you think????

Weddings, Doctors, and Pools, Oh My!

Hi All,

Oh my, people! Here we are, once again. We continued down the path of middle of the night sleep interruptions (as previously mentioned) for the remainder of last week, primarily Bree induced. We are hoping that's behind us for the time being. Here are a few highlights from last week....

Brian and Hillary Get Hitched! - Bree and Drew attended their first wedding, as our cousin Brian and Hillary got married on Saturday. The wedding was beautiful, as were the bride and groom. We enjoyed the day with extended family that we do not get to see often enough. Congrats to the happy couple!


And, here's a fun family shot of us at the wedding photo booth....

Doctor, Doctor Can You Tell? - On top of some general fussiness and sleep interrupted nights, Bree added a cough to the mix on Monday. After consulting with the nurse, I took Bree in for a check on Tuesday. Turns out, her lungs, ears and throat all checked out just fine. The doctor suspected she just picked up a cold bug and suggested over the counter nasal drops before bed if she seemed stuffy. She seems better now. Also, the doctor was not sure if teething was an additional factor, as he could not see or feel any gums swelling. Maybe just another teething false alarm?

Too Cool For The Pool - Our last swimming lesson was on Monday evening. We ended up keeping Bree home, due to her ailments. I took Drew so that he could get a bit more swim practice in. This week was pretty much a repeat of past weeks. The class was enjoyable, with the exception of the required underwater excursion. I thought perhaps this would be the week that Drew got over his angst with the underwater plunge, but alas, no. In no uncertain terms, this was not the week. We are not giving up though!