old friends, new friends

I was so lucky to get Alecia as my roommate freshman year of college.  She introduced me to so many friends and new fun things, and kept me going when times got tough.  Now she's moved nearby and we all got together for a great Saturday.  This is me with Samantha, Micah, Anna K, Catherine on the floor, and Alecia with Abby.  We're looking forward to getting together more often and, hopefully, our kids will be friends (or, as Alecia said, roommates at Carolina!).

 Hello?  Oh, it's Catherine!

Meanwhile, our girls have been working on walking.  Samantha is so good and it seems like she could walk any day, but Nana says she's too chicken to let go and try.  Catherine seems to get along just fine without walking, she's so fast on all fours.  I think one day she'll decide that Samantha is too far ahead of her and she'll just start walking as if she could have done it all along.  The girls like putting the balls into their walker to make it produce sound.  They both like to climb on the walker as well as play in it.  They don't go far because they're still a little short, but they like it, and it plays music.

We're all surprised that Heidi doesn't mind the walker.

So excited!

We are all so excited that Catherine finally has teeth!  Samantha was pulling ahead in so many things, walking better with smaller steps, up to 4 teeth now, and 19lbs 1oz big.  Catherine walks with giant steps and would rather sit and have you swing her from place to place, and she weighs 14lbs 5oz, almost 5lbs between them.  At least Catherine has teeth and can try the same foods, though I'm sure they won't like the same things, just to be difficult.  

Can you see my teeth on the bottom?  Look closely.

It is so hard to see my teeth, but they're there!

Well, Catherine and Heidi are getting along well.  Catherine likes to pet Heidi, and we definitely think that she thinks she's a dog.  She 'woofs' when Heidi barks and plays with her ball, but this latest kissing with her tongue thing is perhaps getting to be too much.  Samantha and Heidi don't get along because Sam grabs and pulls everything, including hair in Heidi's face, tummy, and tail.  Poor Heidi!  I guess that's why Heidi has started chewing Samantha's pacifiers, which often end up on the floor because Samantha's got quite an arm.  Heidi even ate the paci attached to the monkey, so sad!

Stuff like this crazy situation happens a lot.

        

Aren't these cute?  Catherine makes a new face now that Dave calls her monkey face.  She makes it and goes 'ooo'.  Then Samantha laughs, we laugh, and Catherine laughs.  It makes our evenings so much fun.  We hang out upstairs and play with our toys, throw the ball for Heidi and get ready for bed.

Super fans!

Well, our girls have experienced great football games in their short little lives so far.  The Gamecocks had a wonderful season and won their bowl game and now the Giants have won the Super bowl, yay!

They've been doing so many things!  Samantha has a tooth on the top and when she smiles (or yells) you can see the bottom ones very clearly.  Catherine finally has her first two teeth on the bottom and you can see them if you really look when she smiles.

Some nice person at Walmart gave them pretty headbands, aren't they cute?  Catherine likes to take hers off, but Samantha leaves it there and I think it makes her look so pretty.

The girls have also spent a lot of time with Heidi.  Heidi is so confusing to us.  She loves the girls, especially Samantha, and is so protective of them.  She lets them pull on her and no matter how hard they pull, even if Heidi growls or cries, she just gives them a kiss, says "It's OK" and just stays there next to them and lets them do it again.

Recently the girls have been sick, a lot of snuffly, runny noses and Catherine spiked a fever one night.  But, all seems to be mostly back to normal, we just have a few extra tissues on hand.

There has been a lot of standing and walking going on around here, too.  Samantha especially loves to let go and stand on her own.  Catherine doesn't take the initiative as much, and if you hold her and don't let go as quickly she will just bounce and expect you to throw her in the air.  Both of them are great at holding fingers and walking around, but Catherine still takes oversized steps.  Samantha looks ready to go any day now.  Samantha also seems to be getting frustrated recently with her lack of vocabulary.  Sometimes she just sits there and raises her fists and yells.  It seems like she is trying so hard to say something and gets mad that there's nothing coming out that sounds right.

Nana and Grandpa went to Italy and all we got were these t-shirts ;-)

 Recently we've been having a lot of fun with the doorway bouncers.  Samantha is especially good at jumping up and down in hers.  She gets so excited and looks like Tigger bouncing both up and down and back to front and around in a circle.  I would have thought that Catherine would quickly become a pro at this because she loves to bounce three times and then wait for you to throw her in the air, but it took her longer to get the jumping part down.  At first she just really liked to leave one foot on the ground and use the other to push herself in a circle and wind herself up.  Then she would pick both feet up and unwind, weeeee! The girls get so excited now I worry that they'll bonk their heads on the doorjamb, but I guess that's a part of how this growing up thing works.

Bath time is over, good night!