Happy Belated Easter!

Adam took these pictures of the girls in our front yard. I think he did a great job! Of course he had some very beautiful babies to work with. The girls were fascinated with the daffodils.


We spent Saturday at my parents house. It was a beautiful day for coloring Easter Eggs and some fun on the farm. This is their first time meeting their cousins (my sister's kids): Reagan, Sara, Renna, and Gage. The four of them had such a great time together. The girls were really fascinated by their first time seeing other little people who move and talk!
The girls got to sit on Tilly, the family guard donkey. We didn't really walk or move around but they seemed to like sitting there. I think this will be the first of many rides. It makes their momma proud!
We got to feed the chickens.The girls really enjoyed watching them. Sara even picked one up for them so they got an up close view! My grandma's sister was also down for a visit so we also got to enjoy some time with Aunt Florice.
The four cousins together at last with their Grandma and Great Grandma. Don't they look cute?
Our first family Easter was also our first trip to church. We really enjoyed seeing all our friends from church. The girls did really well sitting with us through Sunday school and then services. We were very proud of them. They didn't have any major stranger danger meltdowns so that was a huge success. Hopefully we weren't too distracting to everyone. Adam and I were more exhausted than the girls were once we got home.

After church Sunday we had lunch and spent some time with Adam's family. The girls got to meet their other cousins for the first time (Adam's sister's kids) Isaac, Renna, Avery, and Reagan.

So as you can see we broke out of quarantine in a big way. We had an exhausting weekend and realized we will soon have to become more flexible with our strict schedule if we want to enjoy more outings. We really enjoyed being together with our families for the first time since the girls had been born. We look forward to many more family get together. The girls have so much to learn from their older cousins. We have worried a lot about the girls getting sick once they got out and of course 24 hours later they were sick! So we have been struggling a little this week and trying to recover from a viral upper respiratory bug. I have gotten it as well and I am sure Adam is soon to follow. I guess we knew it was inevitable but had hoped to at least get a good week of fun in before the illness. We did get 48 hours of fun and we loved every minute. The doctor tested the girls for the dreaded RSV and it was negative. What an answered prayer. They seem to be feeling much better today and are no longer running fevers. Hopefully this doesn't slow us down for too long. The immune systems are now hard at work. You never know what we might be up to next. Renna is now doing the army crawl so she is keeping me on my toes. We will keep you posted.

One week to go!

A little indoor fun in the wagon
First time taking a bath together
Sippy cups make great toys
Watching mom and dad work outside
Renna and the backwards crawl
A little sisterly love

One more week to go and the quarantine (aka house arrest) will be done!! Yeah!! You cannot begin to imagine how excited Adam and I are. I am sure the girls would be excited if they new that there lies a whole big new world beyond these walls that doesn't involve shots at the doctor's office!! We have been on house arrest since they came home in August...8 months of house arrest!! It has actually flown by and we were just so thankful to have the girls home from the hospital and healthy that we haven't minded it too much. But I can honestly say I am now super excited about the future that lies ahead. I can only imagine the challenges that are going to present themselves but I know we will conquer. Lately we have been very busy with new stuff at home. Adam is working on tearing out our old deck and putting in a new one. This has presented many challenges but we know it will be great when it gets done. He is such a hard worker and I am so proud of him for undertaking this huge project. My friend Courtney (mom of triplet boys) said they have been using bath seats to speed up the bath process. What an ingenious idea! Thanks to my sister in law and mother in law and a consignment sale we now have two functioning bath seats. They work really well and have cut down our bathing time by half. It is so fun to have them in the bath at the same time and anything we can do to save time is a must. My parents and my grandma got the girls an early birthday present this week...a red wagon!! I am so excited about it and the girls seem to love it to. I have been wanting a way to be able to take the girls to the swings or out to feed the horses without having to get out the stroller every time. I must say that the bath seats also work great in the wagon to keep the girls from rolling all over one another. What a great invention. I am going to enjoy taking the girls around the yard by myself and being able to have my hands free. We also started trying sippy cups. This mostly resorts in a lot of throwing cups on the floor and wet laps but they really think it is fun. I think they may be starting to figure out that it provides a drink but we aren't there yet. Reagan has made a few new developments this week. She has started patty-caking by herself and said DaDa for the first time! We are so proud of her. Renna continues to crawl around on her back but is getting up on all fours a lot more now and rocking back and forth. She usually just gets frustrated and resorts to the backwards crawl that she knows can get her around. Reagan is also getting up on all fours a little bit. I have a feeling a lot of changes are soon in store for our family. The Laughlin Twins will soon be making their debut so you never know where you might find us.

9 months old

We had our nine month checkup this week....it seems so unbelievable that the girls are already so old. The doctor was very happy with their weight and their progress. Renna weighs 16lbs. 70z. which is amazing. I cannot believe she is that big. Reagan weighs 14lbs. 4oz, which is a lot of progress in the last month for her. I like to think the weight gain is due to my wonderful homemade baby food! Anyways our goal is to end the quarantine in April and to gradually start introducing the girls to the public world of germs. We will be counting the days.

We are on the move...

A little baby wrestling
Daddy and Renna headed out for a walk. See how excited they are!
Getting ready to go out to play.
Cute winter outfits, some clients got these for us and we just love them.

Okay so no they are not crawling, but Renna goes wherever she wants by rolling around and arching her back to do a sort of a backwards crawl thing. It sounds really odd and it is. The developmental specialist said, not many babies do that!! That was her nice way of saying, that is so weird!! Anyways we think it is pretty cute except that she is rubbing all the hair off the back of her little head. And lets be honest my girls don't have much to spare. Renna is developing this pretty thick patch of beautiful blond hair right down the center of her head...just not growing much anywhere else. Reagan is doing great as well but hasn't quite mastered the rolling all over the living room yet. Adam baby proofed a lot of stuff in the living room and I can only imagine how it is going to go once both girls are really on the move. Reagan's hair is getting lighter and lighter as well. She has always been my little dark haired girl but it continues to get lighter. At least hers is growing all over her head just not as thick. The girls are also both sitting up on their own! What an accomplishment. Now I say that but of course they don't always hold it very long and I must always stay close to catch them before the inevitable crash to the floor. We are working on balancing and learning to catch themselves with their hands. This is much easier said than done. Everyday seems to have new moves and challenges and we are loving every minute of it. Renna is now officially saying "da da." It is very exciting but we are pretty sure she has no idea who da da is right now. She will rarely say it on command but we both just love it when she does say it. I am convinced that miss Reagan is going to save up her words and blurt out mama one day! You better believe we are working on that one. Reagan is our little growler. So adorable! They are eating solid foods usually three times a day and we are introducing fruits. Now all who know me well know that I hate any and all fruit. I know it is crazy...I can't help that I am a super taster (AKA picky eater)! Anyways we started bananas this week and so far Renna is hating them and making terrible grimaces and scrunching her face. I am powering through and continuing to give them to her but I must admit it is very hard. I want to tell her how much I sympathize with her...don't worry I am not. My children will eat fruit...I hope! They have never been great bottle drinkers but are really seeming to enjoy the solid foods. Yeah!! I am convinced it is because I am making the baby food myself. We got our last RSV shot this week and are very excited about that. I am continuing to long for spring and have really enjoyed a few days of nice weather recently. We have gone on a few short walks and rides in the golf cart to see the horses and we all seem to enjoy it. I can't wait to get them out to meet all of our friends and spend some time outdoors. I am sure it will be an adjustment for me and the girls. We have always been on a pretty strict schedule and it will be hard for us to become a little more flexible in order to get out and do a few things. I know it will be worth it though. The girls are sleeping a little better, last night they slept for nine hours straight which is a record for us. I am sure it won't happen often but I am pretty proud of them. I really enjoyed my sleep and of course had to wake up and go make sure they were still breathing! Crazy, I know!

Happy Valentines Day!

Hope everyone enjoys some time together with their little (or their big) lovebugs!

They are catching up...

Daddy's little Deer (thats what the outfit says) sweet big brown eyed Reagan
The girls working hard at pushing up!
Precious blue eyes Renna
Renna
Reagan
Reagan loving the green beans
Renna not loving the green beans

We are all doing well here. Just wanted to give an update on the baby food making. I am loving it. It has been really fun so far. Thanks for all of the encouragement and advice. I will let the pictures of the girls eating speak for them! The pictures are of them eating the green beans for the first time. Their faces were priceless. I am not sure they appreciate my cooking now but hopefully they begin to appreciate it. We have now tried green beans and peas. Yesterday my mom and grandma came to help and we cooked for like two hours and made more green beans, spinach and carrots. I can't wait for the girls to try them. I really love having my mom and grandma come help me, the girls really enjoy it too. We are so lucky to have family close. Thanks grandma and MeMe! We survived the ice storm and never lost our electricity...thank goodness. Adam luckily got to have four days off work due to the storm. It was so perfect. We stayed warm in the house with the girls and Adam kept a fire going while I cooked and we drank hot chocolate and played with the girls! It was really wonderful. I hated the ice for everyone but we loved the time it created for our family. The girls are pushing up on their arms a lot now and starting to get their little bottoms up in the air for a brief second. It is so cute! I thought since we dropped a bottle feeding I would have more free time but now we are feeding three meals of solid food so I actually have less time. Of course I am loving every second of it. They are starting to eat a little better and even seem to enjoy some of the food. Of course there is still more on the bib and face than probably in the mouth but that is okay. We do have great news that the developmental specialist came and the girls have successfully passed all of their six month milestones!! This is a huge step for us even though they are almost eight months old they have started making rapid progress to catch up to their actual age instead of their adjusted age. So they are catching up rapidly! Adam and I are so proud of them. It is weird to think about because they should just now be five months old if they had been born at their due date. God has blessed us so much with their progress and I continue to be amazed at what they do each day. Renna has been sleeping much better this week. I am not going to say anymore so as not to jinx us. I will let you know if it continues. Not much else exciting is going on right now. We have lots of doctors appointments this month but hopefully they all go smoothly. We are counting the days until spring when we can show our girls off! Adam and I escaped to the mall and a movie the other night (thanks for watching the girls Grammy and Papa Ron) and we were talking about how the girls will be in total culture shock when they go to a public place like the mall, church, or even a restaurant. They certainly won't know what to do with so many people to look at. I am sure there will be some scared tears but we will adjust. I can't wait!! We have so many things to show them.....come on Spring!!

We started solid foods!

Renna
Reagan

Daddy and the girls getting ready for a ride in little red
Renna, Daddy, and Fancy
Me, Reagan, and Fancy. Doesn't she look excited?

Well we finally broke down and started solid foods...if you consider mushy rice cereal solids!! We talked with our pediatrician and decided together that the girls weren't ready to try foods until they were 7 months. Well last week we started the rice cereal and they still can't decide if they like it very well. Reagan seems more eager to open her mouth than Renna. This surprised us because we are lucky to get Reagan to drink 3.5 oz in a bottle but maybe she just wants real food! Can you blame her? Her momma is a meat and potatoes girl so I can totally sympathize. Anyways they make some really funny faces when we start the feeding. I tried to capture some but that is easier said than done. We are starting slowly and will be increasing the frequency of the feedings this week. We are hoping to not compound the constipation issues with the addition of solid foods...the prune juice daily continues to help us out. One thing I was surprised about is how big and grown up they look in their little high chairs. They are getting so big and it just surprised me how they don't look like little tiny babies anymore! Makes me kind of sad but excited for the adventures that lay ahead. I am going to try and make my baby food with the help of my friend Chandra's advice. If anyone has any great tips for how you all make your baby food let me know! I plan on doing another week of rice and then starting a new food....I will let you know how it goes. We have been doing great. The girls have successfully had two days of only five bottles. This is a huge step for us so I hope we can keep it up. They are sleeping better at night. Reagan really sleeps for 7 hours which is awesome, Renna is another story and still tries to wake up every 3-4 hours. She is getting better though. At the advice of several friends we got a sound machine yesterday to try and drown out the noise of each other since they constantly wake each other up. I hope it helps. The girls are rolling over all the time and trying to push up on their arms. It is so cute. They have also both found their feet and love holding onto them. Reagan has even started sucking on her toe...gross! I will try to get a picture of that soon! We enjoyed a little outdoors time with the nice weather...short trips of course. Papa Ron recently gave us his old golf cart and we love it. Thanks so much Papa Ron! It is so fun to drive around the pasture and up and down our long driveway. I think the girls enjoy it as well. We got a few pictures of them with the horses yesterday. I think I hopefully have a couple of horse lovers. The horses were just as curious about them as the girls were. Hopefully we have a few more nice days...I am aching to get outside. Spring can't get here fast enough for me! My poor daughters have barely seen the actual sunlight due to the quarantine. Hopefully we can make up for it this summer.