big sister or little sister?

6 Months!  How exciting, and how time has flown by!  I can't believe we are here.  The girls are doing so well, growing and smiling and talking and laughing and moving and teething and I can't wait for more to come.  At their check up this week Catherine was 11 lbs 8 oz and 22.5 inches long. Still such a shrimp, our first born, but she's still growing on the same curve and the doctor says she's doing great.  She's just little like her mommy was.  Samantha, however, is kicking it!  14 lbs 8oz and 24.5 inches long.  Everyone assumes she is older because she's bigger.  We're still wondering if she'll let Catherine lead and be dominant because she's older or if she'll smack Catherine down because she's bigger.  She's gaining on the growth curve, though that may change once she starts crawling and expending more energy.  Catherine is moving more on her hands and knees and she doesn't seem to be a good napper so that's another reason why she's small, she's always on the go.  The girls get to start real food now and that's a great milestone, and Samantha gets to try regular formal instead of the fancy stuff.

Matching jammies on our 6 month birthday.  Thanks to Great Grandma for buying 2 different sizes so they could still match.

I've been thinking lately, when I found out we were having twins I was so upset.  How were we going to manage this?  Could I make two babies happy at once, make them feel secure and loved and not left out and ignored?  How were we going to pay for all of this? ;-)  But now I wouldn't have it any other way.  They girls are so different and complimentary.  Samantha mostly takes after Dave in looks.  She has a shy but beautiful smile that crinkles up her nose, is insistent when it is time to eat, rolls to her left, and is right handed.  Catherine has a megawatt smile to match her flirty personality.  She could eat, or not, looks like me so much it frightens my family, rolls to her left and is left handed (like Dave).  They even have different ways of talking, different pitched voices...  They're incredible and I am amazed at how much I love this.

Samantha's such a smart girl.

I foresee a lot of conversations like this: "Hey, that's my hand you're eating!"  "Well, don't stick it in my mouth if you don't want me to chew on it." "Oh yeah?  Talk to the hand, sista!" Smack.  

Fashion show!  Here are pictures of the girls wearing their track suits and corduroy dresses for church.

 

Resting.

Thumbie!

Rocking! 

The girls love their exersaucers!  Doesn't Catherine look so cute with her legs splayed to the side.  Her socks were a little slippery, we need more with the grippy bottoms.  Samantha is especially great in it because she fits a little better, being bigger (though the little sister).

Movin' and Droolin' !

Hi!  We are doing awesome and Mommy and Daddy are so excited.  I, Catherine, am getting up on my hands and knees and rocking back and forth.  I'm still trying to figure out how to go forward.  I do sometimes, but mostly I go backwards, which is not the plan.  It's fun, but tiring.  

We've both found our feet, though Samantha found them first.  We know how helpful it is if we do this when we're getting our diapers changed so we do it a lot then.  It makes Mommy and Daddy laugh a lot.

 We finally got to watch a football game with all of us together and it was fun.  Daddy kept yelling and jumping up and down and we kept laughing at him.  He looked so silly and excited and happy but his voice sounded kind of mad.  We didn't understand.  While he was doing that we were on the floor with Mommy showing her how well we roll over.  I, Samantha, need to work on my arm strength a little, though.  When I'm on my tummy I can get on my feet but my face is still on the floor.  Then I tip over, but at least I'm moving.  We were also teaching Mommy that we have our own sides.  Catherine needs to be on the right and Samantha on the left.  Then, when we roll, we roll away from each other.  Otherwise we roll into each other and you get what you see below.  I always roll to the left and have figured out how to roll all the way across the living room floor.  Catherine rolls to the right and she could go across the floor except she also twirls so she faces the other side of the room too.  She's weird.  So, we're going to keep working on our rolling and rocking and crawling and maybe go through less than 3 bibs a day.  I don't know why, but our mouths leak all day and sticking things in there just don't seem to help.  We'll keep trying though, and keep you posted!

Mommy's 1st week at work

It was my first whole week back at school and I'm trying to get in a rhythm and find balance.  It is difficult to say the least.  I am just glad that I have a wonderful class and faculty to help me stay busy during the day.  Busy can be very good.  But, I still managed to take pictures this week, as did our nanny, Nicki.  First, Samantha was very happy to have Mommy home, yay!

She's doing so great on her tummy, rolling over more often and she's really close to turning from her back to her tummy (which I think will make her mad once she figures it out and gets stuck, like Catherine does). By the way, doesn't Catherine look like she's got water in her  mouth she's ready to spit out?  Her cheeks look big!

 Nicki has them reading during the day.  This book is about twinkling stars and is apparently very interesting.

Dave got to go to a football game this weekend (Go Cocks!) and all of us got dressed up in our Gamecock colors.  I just wish I hadn't just dried my hair so my face isn't so red.  Then the girls got on their tummies and turned.  In the second picture they were facing each other, but ended up with Samantha kicking Catherine in the face.  She didn't seem to mind.

Close up!

Pretty church clothes!  Catherine did not sleep through church this week, but she was still very good as long as she got to watch what was going on.

This morning they were holding hands!  It was so cute and exciting, gives me hope for their sisterly relationship in the future.  We also spent some time with Heidi, who has been amazing!  The girls have started to grab onto anything within reach, which has included Heidi's beard.  She doesn't get mad or growl, she just waits for me to fix it.  She gives them little kisses on their cheek or hand and comes to check what is going on if one of them is crying.  I'm surprised that she is so interested in the girls and has become quite protective of them.  However, she has deemed Penny, my brother and sister-in-law's dog, to be acceptable, which she was.  Penny was so good considering she hasn't really been around babies.  She even gave gentle kisses (though it took up most of their face or arm).

It was so great that Mike and Alyssa were able to stop by and see the girls this weekend.  We tried to get a picture of the girls riding Penny like a horse, but Penny ran away.  All in all it was a wonderful weekend.

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!