Some more firsts

Well, there were a lot of new things this week.  Our nanny started and we are so excited to have her.  She sings and reads and makes the girls laugh.  While it was hard for me to go back to work this week, difficult for me to be away from them all day, but I was never concerned for their well-being.  Nicki even had some fun and spiked Sammy J's hair.

Then we had our first hurricane, well, sort of.  We didn't even lose power and had stronger wind gusts one night back in the spring when Nana was here.  We slept through it.  But, a first is a first, even a little one.  We also had our first earthquake, which was even a first for me and Dave (though Dave didn't feel it).  So weird down here.  They used to say that California would break off and fall into the ocean but I'm starting to wonder about the east coast now.  First an earthquake and then a weird hurricane that hits every state on the eastern seaboard?  

Anyway, I think we are getting teeth around here!  Samantha gets kind of cranky for about 20 seconds and then is fine, kind of like she gets a wave of pain and then it goes away.  She sticks everything she can find in her mouth and drools everywhere.  She has also taken to spitting and sticking her tongue in and out: tbhhht!  Ridiculous!  Catherine is drooling too but it is not as intense as Sam and she rarely spits, though she likes to suck on fabric, including clothes.  Maybe dresses aren't the best choice right now :-)

  

Samantha has been starting to laugh, and it is so cute.  Catherine has been laughing a lot now and she even squeals.  She's also starting to like dancing, which has been one of Samantha's favorite things.

Samantha also held the bottle by herself (if it is not too full)

  

Here we are dressed up in our church clothes.

The girls are reaching out and grasping on to toys.  It is exciting to watch them begin to discover the world around them.

Catherine has come so close to rolling over from her back to her tummy but her thumb in her mouth has been getting in the way.  Today she finally did it!  And she was so excited that she squealed and now whenever she is on her back she tried to do it again.  So far today she's done it 5 times.  Now she's tired and is napping.

Most importantly, the girls got to meet our Pops for the first time.  He wouldn't put them down and kept them laughing.  We can't wait to see him again.  

Five Months!!! (by Dave)

We've let the girls update the blog and we've even let Heidi give her opinions, so maybe it's time for me to let the world know how I feel.  It's amazing to me how quickly this has come to feel normal.  At first it was very hard and I felt like my world had been turned upside down.  But now it feels like this is how it's always been.  And I love it!

                                                                                 

The girls are five months old today.  I am constantly blown away by the way they've grown and learned new things.  I can't even put in to words what I think and feel each morning when they wake up and smile at me.  Maybe I can... I feel like a daddy.  Everything that that word means and all of the things that come with it, that's how I feel.  I always thought that I wanted to have kids, but after Karen and I got married something in my mind changed and I didn't know if it was what I really wanted.  After we found out that Karen was pregnant I had time to prepare myself for what was to come.  I realized that I had buried those feelings because I was enjoying doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted - as long as Karen would let me - but they were still there.  And after the girls were born it all came rushing back.  It's one of the things that I wanted more than anything else.  To be a daddy.  That's all we'll say about me, since this is supposed to be mostly about the girls.

  Catherine and Samantha have had some new experiences over the last couple of weeks.  The went swimming in the pool.  This wasn't the first time, but it was the first time we took pictures.  And they loved it.  Their Little Swimmers diapers made their butts float, but other than that everything was great.  And Catherine obviously lovers her bathing suit.

The girls have now been exposed to football.  I know it's only preseason, but they apparently like to sit in my lap and watch.  We'll have to be careful not to turn them in to little couch potatoes.  We'll also have to make sure they learn to cheer for the proper teams.

Samantha is making leaps and bounds in her tummy time skills.  And she is now rolling over, just like her sister.  So far they've only rolled over from their tummies to their backs.  Catherine can come really close to rolling over onto her tummy.  She'll get both of her knees to touch the floor, but can't get her arm out of the way because she's trying to suck her thumb at the same time.  Catherine has even "refused" to do tummy time once.  I kept putting he on her tummy and she would just roll over.  I gave up after four times.  

                                                                                            

 One of the reasons that I'm updating the blog this time is because Karen has started back at work and I've been alone with the girls for a few days now.  It's been awesome.  They are such good little babies.  I know that I wouldn't have been able to do what Karen did with them in their first few months home.  She did an amazing job.  And now that their such well adjusted little ladies I'll be taking care of them by myself on my days off and we officially have a nanny for them when we're both at work.  So now it will be a group effort to keep our girls growing and developing.  

So again, happy five months to our girls and we look forward to many more new adventures!

New experiences

This week we did a lot of new things!  Most importantly, the girls met a lot of Daddy's family.  Cousin Dee and Adrienne got the girls the cutest clothes, including Gamecock clothes (which I'm sure was difficult for the Clemson fans, so thank you).  Adrienne even made a lot of them, including bows and ruffles and tutus.  We are now ready for football season, that's for sure!  Daddy thought it was a little over the top but Mommy thinks it is perfect.

We had a lot of fun going in the swimming pool for the first time too, and we even wore bathing suits and special diapers.  Those diapers made our butts float.  The camera was dead, but we got video.  Daddy says as soon as he figures out how to get stills off of the camcorder he will post some.

Samantha and Aunt Patty had some special time together with a long conversation (Samantha has become SUCH a talker!) and she gave us the cutest musical seahorses.  Aunt Bobby helped Samantha get to sleep and Catherine and Uncle George bonded too.  Then we went to our first restaurant together with everyone, including Cole and Cade, the other set of twins in the family.  It was their first birthday, now we can't wait for ours.

Earlier in the week Daddy taught Samantha how to 'put up her dukes', but Samantha just thought it was silly.  Then Catherine ruined her outfit because her mess didn't fit in her diaper, another first for her and Mommy, though not a good one.  We put on our skunk and bunny outfits again, even though it was 100 degrees outside, just in case we don't fit into them for Halloween.  Samantha was unhappy, but it was hot.  Looking back, perhaps Catherine should have worn the skunk outfit, given what she did to Mommy.

Daddy took these pictures of us one morning because he said it was a 'twin thing'.  Apparently we wake up and stretch similarly, who knew?

But Mommy says the most important thing we did was smile and talk to each other.  It apparently is our first step to bonding as sisters.



So now we go back to hanging out with Mommy and Heidi while Daddy is at work.  Maybe we'll get to go back to the beach when Daddy is on vacation and Mommy hasn't started school yet.  Until next time, keep smiling!