Austin Adventures

We had a low key week with just a few outings including playgroup and a trip to the Children's Museum. I don't know what was up with the twins, but for five straight days they were actually in a good mood. This has never happened before. They may be cute, but they are super fussy kiddos and the most "good days" we have ever had at once was one or two.

Saturday we went to Austin to visit Uncle Walt and Aunt Kristy. We ate lots of yummy food including BBQ and Chuy's (Chuychanga with deluxe tomatillo....yummmmm!) and visited the Austin Botanical Gardens.

Walt & Kristy

Picture I took of a water lily. I have always loved these. I am amazed how easy it is to get pictures that look like they belong in a calendar with my new camera!

Lauren in the big arch...She got something in her eye and her face was all swollen all day.

Poor girl.

She was about to dive off of the brick wall, but luckily I caught her!

As relaxed as can be.

Look mom, no hands!

Brad and Blake

There was this fun stream in the Oriental Gardens that I convinced Brad to let the babies play in.

Uncle Walt was in charge of making sure Blake didn't get hurt.

Check out that head wound!

You're fired Uncle Walt! ;)

Then we let the babies play in this big sugar pot. Blake wanted out.

Lauren loved it and wanted to stay all day. Her little dress was covered in mud!

Babies, less excited about being pictured with me, than I am about being pictured with them.

Sunday we went to church and then met my parents, Lindsey and Kenny and the boys, up at the pool for a swim.

One last thing to note:

This morning Blake was running around diaper less...he escaped in the middle of a change and since he had a rash and needed some airing out, I didn't try hard to catch him...He was standing over by the TV when I head "Uh Oh" and sure enough, he had peed on the floor! We have tile so cleaning it up was no big deal and I was impressed that he realized peeing on the floor was an "Uh Oh". We're definitely making progress.

Congrats Carrie and Craig!

This weekend Brad and I got a much needed break from twin parenthood to attend Carrie and Craig's wedding. Carrie grew up with Brad. The wedding was in San Antonio so we left early Saturday morning and made it to the Riverwalk in time for a delicious Mexican lunch and then met up with friends at the hotel to relax around the pool before wedding time.

Brad by the Alamo

We stayed at the LaQuinta. Brad's first words when he walked in our room were "Whoa, we haven't stayed somewhere like this in a really long time." and my answer was "and we won't again for much longer!" I think we've gotten too old for the LaQuinta. Next time maybe we'll spring for the Homewood Suites!

Us by the LaQuinta Pool about to head to the wedding

The wedding itself was beautiful...it was held at a reception place on the side of a hill, the ceremony and cocktail hour were outside and then we moved into a reception hall for a very yummy dinner buffet and dancing.

The Bride and Groom. I really liked her dress.

Dustin, Jimmy, Ry, and Brad

This morning we met Ry and Kelli for breakfast at Denny's (right next door to the LaQuinta) and then headed back to CS.


The babies must have had a really good time with Grandma and Grandpa because they didn't even seem excited to see us when we got home.

Thanks Mom and Dad for watching them so we could go away.

Lauren+Kaylie+Watermelon=TOO CUTE!

Here are some pictures Rebecca sent me from the 4th. If you are wondering what Lauren is doing to Kaylie...she's feeding her watermelon a la wedding cake style.

Fun for the Fourth

A three day weekend on the heels of our return from SC couldn't be more welcome! We had a good week getting back into the groove of things. I think the vacation was great for the babies and it showed in their attitudes this week. They were much happier than normal. We made a trip to Gattitown with some friends for pizza and fun, played outside in the water, and I had a girls night out at Cafe Eccel where I enjoyed the creme brulee cheesecake!

Friday afternoon we took L&B to the splash pad to play. SOOO fun!

Friday evening Blake and Brad weren't feeling well so they stayed home while Lauren and I went to the George Bush Library with Rebecca and Kaylie for the July 4th Party. We were hoping there would be a petting zoo, which there wasn't, but the girls had so much fun eating watermelon, snow cones, and roasted corn that the trip was definitely a success. Wow! No, disrespect to little Blake, but going somewhere with just Lauren is about 50 times easier. She'll sit in her stroller and not complain and if I let her out she doesn't run away. We actually got to sit in the shade for like 20 minutes and eat our snow cones and watermelon.

Lauren on the firetruck- not sure she's diggin it.

Lauren enjoying her snowcone. All of the watermelon pictures are on Rebecca's camera..I'll have to post those later.

Saturday Lauren came down with the crud and still has it today so the rest of the weekend was pretty low key while Brad and the babies tried to rest. Hopefully I will be spared of this bug!

Wild Blake after skinny dipping in the backyard.

Notes to self:

(this is my new section of really boring stuff that I want to remember and probably only grandparents and aunts might enjoy)

*The babies also say yum yum.

*They've started using forks. Lauren likes it. Blake prefers his hands.

*They love to blow on their food, even if its not hot.

Carolina On My Mind

We are back from our first big trip with the babies to Kiawah Island, South Carolina. We met up with my mom's whole side of the family, most of whom live in Maryland. We do this trip every few years, but this was the first year time that ALL of my cousins and their kids could come. There were about 30 people including 11 kids. Needless to say, the twins had a blast. We spent lots of time playing on the beach, riding bikes, swimming at the pool, and at the playground. They had play equipment specially for kids in the 1-2 age range so that was a special treat.


The babies did really well on the plane. Brad and I traded off...the way there I had Blake and he had Lauren and the way back we switched. As luck would have it the baby Brad had slept each time and the baby I had was wide awake!


Monday night my parents hosted a pizza party for all at our house, Tuesday Brad, Jill, and I spent the day in Charleston shopping while my parents babysat, Wednesday Susan and Karen hosted a cocktail party at their house and then we went to the carnival in the park (one of the great things about Kiawah is that they have all sorts of activities for kids), and Friday night Brad and I escaped for a few hours for dinner.


They also have a new shopping village at the entrance to the island with lots of neat boutique type shops, a Central Market like grocery store, and a couple of ice cream shops.


The babies also choose this time to say their first word!!! UH OH! Lauren said it first and then Blake followed about 2 seconds later. They are so proud of themselves and I've heard it about 1,000 times in the past week. They're also fond of dropping things on purpose just so they can say it. I thought their first words would me something like mom, dad, diva, or cat so I was a little surprised by this, but several of their friends say UH OH so I guess that's where they picked it up.

At the Houston airport ready to go through security. Blake did have a cute outfit to match Lauren's but on the drive to the airport we had a little barfing incident and had to stop at a gas station, buy a roll of paper towels, and change the kid. I think he may get motion sickness because the same thing happened the next morning on our bike ride.

Us walking down the boardwalk to see the beach for the first time.

Lauren's first taste of the ocean. They both really liked it and had fun playing in the waves. Lauren kept doing headstands and would end up with her hair all wet when the waves broke!

The crib rental place left us this dump truck to play with! It was a lot of fun and caused quite a few fights!

Blake with his cousin Livvie at dinner.

Kaiya, Maddie, Natalie, and Livvie blowing bubbles.

Blake the surfer boy.

Enjoying a milk break with Grandma and Grandad.

Both babies got a real kick out of body surfing with grandad.

Lauren at the playground.

Blake learned to go down the slide by himself!

Chillin in our wagon after a break for chocolate pudding. (notice the stuff mixed with sand around their mouths)

Our last morning here playing on the beach.

Back at the airport, waiting the car to air out from the aforementioned vomit incident before we drove home.

We made a quick stop in Pearland before heading back to CS to visit our old next door neighbors Stan and Kristen who were in town from Indiana. Chris and Dylan hosted a whole Pecan Ct Reunion party at their house and it was fun to catch up with all of our old neighbors and see some of the new babies.

If Dr. Seuss Were Still Alive....

I'd have a suggestion for his next book. It would be like a prequel to "Oh, the Places You'll Go" and would be called "Oh, the Tantrums You'll Throw."

The "experts" say that the terrible twos begin around 18 months. Well, at our house they began the moment the candles on their first birthday cakes were blown out!

I can't begin to describe the tantrums, screaming, crying, stomping, biting, hitting, toy stealing drama that we encounter in this house of twins on a daily basis. It's enough to make an grown woman cry...or laugh...depending on the moment.

Aunt Jill calls every few days to check in on us. Her standard question: "So, What are you all up to?" My standard reply: "Oh, Lauren is playing and Blake is throwing a fit." (Can't you hear it?)

Blake tends to throw fits more frequently, but Lauren's fits are more intense and irrational. Blake's fits happen many times a day for 2-5 minutes while Lauren's happen a couple times a week. Once she gets going it can be 45 minutes or an hour before she decides to get over it.

Jill witnessed one of these yesterday when she was visiting. We heard Lauren wake up from her nap and went into get her. She seemed happy enough to see us for the first 30 seconds and then launched into one of her tirades. Was she hungry? Hmmm...judging from how she threw her cup at me, guess not. Need a diaper change? Clean and Dry. Want to go outside? Lays down on ground, kicks and screams. Something hurting her? A check from head to toe revealed no pins sticking in her.

We never figured out what was wrong (if anything) and the fit ended unceremoniously 45 minutes later when we loaded up the car and headed for the park.

Blake's thrown about 10 today, usually if he doesn't get something he wants, or if he gets in trouble. But none worth writing about.

Blake goes for quantity, Lauren for quality. Together they really keep me on my toes!

So, with two babies going through the same phase of developmental drama at the same time, there is never a shortage of screaming and fighting and rarely a surplus of peace.

That being said, I still love my twins and would not know what to do with out all of the action they bring to our lives.

If I knew then what I knew now, would I have still been excited about being pregnant with twins? Of Course.

Would I have considered a different name for my blog? You betcha.

Double the Babies, Half the Sanity, anyone?

Happy Father's Day-- Just a Day Late!

We celebrated father's day yesterday with a trip to the pool. A perfect activity for the seriously hot weather that we are having these days. Then continued on to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a dinner of delicious ribs, potato casserole, and salad. My mom's ribs are one of Brad and I's favorite things to eat so it was a perfect father's day meal. The twins had fun playing in the dog kennel and with Grandpa's duck calls. We think Lauren may have a future in duck call competitions because already at 14 months she had no problem using them. My dad offered to let her take one home...I declined...you can imagine why. :)

Other than that, last week was pretty uneventful save for a few playgroup activities and our first swim lesson.

Saturday we leave for our trip to the beach and will be flying to South Carolina with the twins. Keep us and all of the other passengers on our flight in your prayers. I can't imagine how Blake is going to handle two and a half hours of sitting in one place. It could get ugly!