8-monthers

It's the first big snow we've had this winter.  There are already about 6 inches out and we're expecting another 6 by tomorrow morning!  So with the unplowed roads I'm staying at home with the boys this morning instead of heading to church.

The pictures feature on the blog isn't working right now, so I'll have to add the latest pictures of the boys soon!  They're 8 months!

Here's what they're up to lately:

• rolling
• pivoting
• reaching across their bodies
• stealing toys, pacifiers fromt he others mouth, hands, etc.
• rocking on all fours
• leaning on elbows and toes (knees up off ground)
• sitting great, but always fall over still
• eating lots of solids
• don't love, bananas, carrots, rice cereal
• love pear sauce, applesauce, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, cherries, peas
• starting finger foods! so far blueberries, bananas, and avocado…none were a huge hit, but they are great at grabbing the food and bringing it straight to their mouths!
• still taking 3 naps a day, but we're pushing their naps back…currently 9am and 12pm, but moving closer to 1pm for the second nap; each are 45-1.5 hours
• go to bed between 6:30 and 7 and have been waking up around 7:30 or I have to wake them up by 7:30! Thank the Lord.  I can do 7:30!
• reaching things on their bookshelf, baskets, and anything left on the floor
• are constantly trying to eat and steal my iphone
• still enjoying excersauers
• finally outgrown Bumbos (they get out of them easily, by falling forward :)), their bouncy seats (they lean forward while strapped in and almost move the chair!), and their swing (they are heavy and now lean to one side and try to dangle their arms out…so that's packed up now!)!
• fitting into lots of 9 month clothes and some 6 month clothes, which are getting tighter
• like toppling stacked things  
• Jackson hates the vacuum and cries the entire time while Grayson smiles and laughs 
• love silly faces from me and Andrew, funny noises and breathing sounds
• take baths in their kiddie bath in the regular tub, instead of the sink…too much splashing for the kitchen! they're nearly ready for a "big boy bath" but still fall over a lot while sitting

We've tried a few new recipes lately.  Here are the ones we enjoyed the most!

• Spanish Chicken and Chorizo with Potatoes
• Smoky Chipotle Chili
• Easy Alfredo
• Easy Mini Muffeltta Sandwiches

Thanksgiving recap

We have so much to be thankful for this year.  Two big reasons, but many, many more.  We headed to Snellville to spend the holiday with hubs' family for a week.  Such a welcome break from the monotony I often feel at home.  I can't believe it's already Christmas season because my days largely look the same day in and day out.

And, we flew.  And I think helped other people strengthen their convictions on birth control.  Ha.  The afternoon flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta was waaaaayyyy better than we thought it would be.  But our red eye heading back to Minnesota was rough. We woke up at 3:30am to head to the airport and after we put our sleeping cuties in their car seats, they forgot that was the part when they returned back to sleep.  Yeah, that did not happen!  Needless to say that was a rough start to the flight.  Babies who lost 4 hours of sleep already…starting off on a cranky foot.

We ended up having a blast though as the in-laws watched the boys and sent us to Cirque du Soleil one evening and we headed to Athens and scored some last minute tickets to the Georgia v. Georgia Tech game.  Good game! Tech was beaten badly.  And…we celebrated freedom from the kiddies and 4 years since Andrew bent down on one knee and put a ring on it!

7 months

Grayson and Jackson are 7 months old (plus a few days since I'm late!).

Here's what they're up to now:

• Sleeping:: they roll over on their tummies to sleep or side to sleep
• Forgot how to roll from tummy to back:: which also means they often need help rolling back to their tummies at night = crying, but thankfully a quick fix
• Steal each others' toys:: they often grab whatever's in each other's hands!
• Laugh and giggle:: especially when tickle their armpits, put them face to face so they can see each other, when they "fly" or do raspberries on their tummies
• Eating solids still:: Grayson seems to be the more accommodating eater who may flinch initially but ALWAYS finishes his bowl! Jackson on the other hand is a little more dramatic...purses lips shakes head, and very dramatically gags when he doesn't like something...or sometimes even the things he does like! Don't know where he got his sass or stubbornness from...
• they LOVE sweet potatoes and prunes! they like carrots. they HATE avocados and will only tolerate bananas if mixed with a favorite!
• Starting sippy cups:: we're just now seeing if these little guys can figure out the sippy cup
• Beginning to hold bottles:: Hallelujah! Well, Jackson holds it sometimes, Grayson not so much
• Sleep through the night fully
• Back to 3 naps a day:: after switching to two naps they eventually shortened their naps too much and we're back to 3
• Wearing 6 month and some 9 month clothing
• Enjoy exersaucers
• Around 15 lbs
• Teething
• Love eating toes
• Love grabbing feet
• Enjoy rolling over
• Favorite toys: Sophie giraffe teether, crinkly fabric bugs
• Reach for toys... and iPhones!

Grayson after first trying prunes

Clearly Jackson enjoyed them too!

Gray mesmerized by the iPhone

Gray and Jacks are doing well!  They are jolly boys who are a lot of fun!  They're messy with solids and so far food has landed on me, the carpet, drapes, table, and all over them (eyes, ears, necks, hands, etc.) :). 

halloween

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's... two little super heros flying around.

Jackson as Batman

Grayson as Superman

And super-dad with his little caped men :)

Since our little guys are in bed around 6:30 and become cranky-pants around 5, Trick-Or-Treating was not an option I wanted to pursue this year! Though I so badly wanted to see these cute faces poking through some big plush monkey or lion outfits, we opted for these way more comfortable superhero onesies instead, thanks to Gram Link. The boys were comfortable...and they still fit in their car seats :).  The weekend before Halloween we drove down to Grand Ave. (a quaint and fun area with lots of shopping and restaurants) for the Boo Bash.  We kept thinking how Gray and Jacks would love this in a year or two.  They had a petting zoo, candy at different restaurants and stores, lots of people walking around in costumes, free cider and hot chocolate, etc. So really, it was a chance for he and hubby to romp around outside with the nuggets happily in tow.  

Then on Wednesday, actual Halloween the boys donned these Halloween bibs and again wore their outfits- even to the doctors office, for flu shots...that were wrongly scheduled.  Side note, people, do you know how long it takes to get 2, 7 month olds poop and spit up-free and out of the house coordinated around nap schedules? Let's make sure the shots are exactly when they need to be.  For anyone else getting flu shots, the second dose must be EXACTLY 4 weeks after...and not a day before. Not that I was annoyed or anything :) 

On other news, here are a few things the munchkins have been up to lately...

Jackson has routinely been getting his arm stuck in his pjs in the morning.:)

Future engineers or mathematicians?

They like the abacus from IKEA

What cute, happy little guys! Jackson in the green, and Grayson in the yellow

laughing babies

Some of our favorite videos of our kiddos laughing.  Please disregard ridiculous and lame sounds/noises/voices from me and mom :)

Jackson's obsessed with the word "zoom" 

 Gram gets Grayson giggling

recent days

We've really enjoyed Gray and Jacks lately- especially their giggles and belly laughs.  Here are some snapshots from the past couple of weeks.

Prime play time with Dad and Papa

Tummy time after getting dedicated at church!

Taking walks with our new jackets from Ms. Ginnie!

Both love playing with their feet, as Jackson demonstrates

Loving their Sophie the griaffee teethers and Daddy time

Playing together with their musical ball toy

 Joining mom in her morning time with God

Jackson loving the exersaucer

Gray too!

Laughing with Ms Jess

A little fall walk before the Georgia-Kentucky game

Little Grayson

Hungry (?!) Jackson

visitors and visiting

Lately there have been several people coming in and out of town here.  For me and the hubs its been time together...time a part...time together...on repeat.  Here we are at the apple orchard before Andrew was in China (woah, right?!) for a week last week.

And to prevent me from a major breakdown, my parents flew in town to help out while my other half was literally halfway across the world.  Plus, you know, they were beginning withdrawal symptoms from Grayson and Jackson.  

Picked up Mom and Dad then headed to lunch.  Queen Gram

Gram and Grandpa letting the boys play with each other

Sweet Gray all smiley on the bed

Gram and Grandpa Link with their favorite kiddos

They got a jumper for us...but it only worked in the bathroom so we may be bringing it back:(

At least Jackson was entertained for a little while!

Mom fed Jackson

While I had Gray

I LOVE this picture!  Dad was so sweetly entertaining and keeping the boys quiet while Mom and I did some shopping.  We were running late and you would have never known it.  Gray and Jacks love their Grandpa (plus all the toys and books he went through:))!

Once Hubby made it back in town, his parents flew in (literally like 12 hours later!) so we could scurry off to a Bed and Breakfast for some quality couple time.  It was wonderful, and I'm sure the in-laws were LOVING the grandkid time sans parents!  

My handsome hubs at our B&B 

They love their Sophie teethers!

Love them!

6 months!

Last week Grayson and Jackson scooted past 6 months! I can't believe they've been here for that long already!  I still feel like they're little babies and like I just had them! But then I think back to being pregnant and that feels like ages ago.

At their 6 month check up they got a few more shots...poor guys!  Andrew and I each have to hold down one boy while they get their vaccines.  I know it's best for them but it's so not fun!

Here are some pictures of them on their 1/2 year birthday:

What they've been up to lately:

• grabbing their feet
• rolled over from back to tummy:: only Grayson's managed this feat, and only did once...while naked before bath time!
• yelling
• razzing
• sleeping without swaddles
• sleeping through the night:: generally...whew!
• 3 naps a day
• looking at books
• passing things from one hand to the other
• "zoom":: for whatever reason, Jackson belly laughs whenever you say "zoom"- we love it!
• belly laughing and giggling
• lots of smiles still
• weight:: 13lbs for Grayson and 13.5lbs for Jackson
• wearing (and starting to outgrow) 6 month clothing
• recognize and smile at one another
• grabbing faces:: they love grabbing noses, mouths...of each other and mom and dad
• moving on to solid foods:: well, at least rice cereal
• sitting:: Jackson will sit without help for maybe 10 seconds and Grayson falls over a little more quickly

The boys hanging out together after waking up one morning

Getting ready for being spoon fed rice cereal for the first time!

The aftermath...Grayson knocked over some of the rice cereal and is kicking his feet in it.  Both had dried cereal all over their faces and bellies!  ...Baths were definitely necessary after

fall day

My hubby is the greatest!  He not only finished getting the boys ready in the morning and put them down for a nap while I met with a friend for coffee, but he had these waiting for me this morning :)

Stargazers because they're "our flower," sunflowers because he knows I love them and burgundy marigolds because they're fall-ish.  How thoughtful is he?!

I loved getting to drive out about 30 min. to se my friend Lisa at her home.  he had a homemade mocha waiting for me!  After lots of catching up and talking about parenting (she's raised 5 kids!) it was time for me to head back home.  

The boys actually slept longer than 45 minutes today (WOAH! exciting! totally didn't comprehend the grace of this until motherhood) during their nap.  Which meant we could go on a beautiful walk. 

the lake next to our place

it's fall!

And now I've started making these twice baked buttnernut squash for dinner.  The timers going off and now one of the boys is awake (and letting me clearly know it!) Thankfully I feel like I can handle whatever especially after all these graces today.  Thank you Lord. 

barefoot and ...in the kitchen

Over the past couple of months I've been able to get back to cooking.  I couldn't even think about cooking, remember what we even had in the fridge, or contemplate that I'd have energy or time to make a meal for the first few months of motherhood...but now some semblance of sanity has returned and I've been getting back in the swing of it.

Here are a few things we're been digging into lately:

• Flounder Fish Tacos- yummy and a good change up!
• Chicken Paprikash
• Chicken (or pork chops) with Balsamic Peppers- I used pork chops so break up the overload of chicken we'd been having and it turned out well. Next time I would just do this dish on the stove instead of in the oven...to bring more depth to the peppers and onions and make the sauce a bit thicker after cooking.  Still good. 
• Green Beans- I always change recipes and in this one I subbed bacon for pancetta and pecans for pine nuts; tasty

a visit from jacksonville-ians

Grayson and Jackson sure do attract a lot of visitors! We're thankful that our families are so willing to fly up to see us the boys.  This past weekend my sister Courtney and her husband Scott came up to stay with us.  They now live in Jacksonville and basically have the complete opposite climate.  We don't talk weather most of the year.  I would cry.   

They loved getting to see the little guys especially now that they're responsive, smiley, giggly and more interactive.  

Aunt Courtney and Uncle Scott with the boys

Jackson and Grayson also went to their very fist tailgate at the school we work with.  Thankfully Court and Scott helped me actually make it there with both kiddos. 

Sara loves hanging out with juniors Courtney and Ashley...and they love the boys!

Dad and Jackson

Here are some other pictures from the last week or so:

Here's Jackson looking so much more grown during tummy time...

and precious Grayson!

Here are the cutest little butts I've ever seen! Seriously, I love their teeny cheeks!