Meat and Cheese

26 Months

2011-01-27T09:30:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I should get used to them growing up so fast by now, but I can't! Cara and Nora are now 26 months old! Cara is continuing to add new words to her vocabulary and is stringing words together, sometimes in sentences. It's amazing to see her pick up on so much! She loves to be a little mommy to Nora and is constantly bringing her things and trying to play games with her... when she's not being a typical 2 year old and stealing things from her, of course.

Nora has been receiving therapy through the state for a few months now, and starting next week we are switching to a different, more intensive type of therapy. We think this will be really great for her, but it definitely will be more time intensive and change our schedule around. We're now going to work with an ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) therapist if any of you would like to read up on that, and she will receive 8 hours of therapy a week. I hope that since we are getting her in therapy at a young age, she will make progress quickly!

I know many well-meaning people have assumed that we are exaggerating Nora's issues or believe that she will outgrow them, but please know that comments like that aren't really helpful. Autism is a disorder that she will never outgrow, although we hope that with therapy she is able to make improvements. As with most autistic children, she also has sensory processing issues and things that are easy for other toddlers are not easy for her. Any change to her routine, even something simple like a new different kind of sippy cup and certainly things like staying overnight in a new place, is extremely hard on her. If you would like to do more reading on early signs of autism, this is a pretty good link to check out. Autismspeaks.org is also a great place to do some reading.

Baby girl #3 is doing well and kicking away as I type. I'm 26 weeks along and have 90-someodd days left until my due date, so time is definitely going by quickly at this point. We are looking forward to meeting her, but we still have lots left to do!

Here are some recent pictures of Cara and Nora:

New Play Set

2011-01-04T19:45:00.000-08:00

Cara and Nora are very lucky and well loved little girls who got plenty of new goodies for Christmas! Of course, Mommy is behind in posting, as usual, but here are some pictures of them enjoying their new playscape from their grandparents:

Since Daddy's just a big kid, too:

McDonald's Play

2010-12-09T13:56:00.000-08:00

This morning I took Cara and Nora to play at McDonald's. We met up with one of their buddies from playgroup, and I actually took my camera out briefly! We really like this McDonald's play area since it is so open, so both girls love climbing and still being able to see everything.

They are both very into climbing, so they love any chance to play on playscapes! And I love how well they nap afterward. ;)

Holiday, 2 year Update

2010-11-30T17:17:00.001-08:00

Once again I've neglected this blog! I suppose that's a sign that we lead a busy, fulfilling life with two toddlers. Both girls are doing well and had a happy Thanksgiving. Ours was low-key, spent at home, but they enjoyed having Daddy around so much. They're such daddy's girls when given the chance. Their 2 year appointment was last week, and both girls are growing well. Cara was 27 lbs, 15 oz and Nora was 30 lbs, 11 oz. Cara was 33.75 inches tall and Nora was 34 inches tall. They're both staying on the growth curve pretty much where they've been for a long time now; Cara is around the 50th percentile, and Nora is around the 80th.

Baby in utero is doing well, too. Our next ultrasound is December 14th, and I have my 20 week midwife appointment on December 15th. I can't believe this pregnancy is almost half over! Actually, I'm 18 weeks today, so this would have been the halfway mark with Cara and Nora's pregnancy. Hopefully this baby plans to bake longer than they did, but it's still crazy to think about! At 18 weeks, baby C is now approximately 10 inches long. I can definitely feel baby's movements most days, usually in the evenings when I finally sit down and rest for a bit.

We took a few pictures this weekend of them in their Christmas outfits!

It's hard to believe they've grown up so fast and are already 2! They had a great birthday party with several of their toddler friends, and they both enjoyed their chocolate cake. Cara recognizes quite a few of her friends and calls them by name now without my prompting, which is just wild. She's like her own little person.

Growing Family

2010-10-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

Cara and Nora are only one month away from turning 2! Growing fast and changing every day. And their lives will change even more next spring when baby #3 arrives!

Nora has been sick this week, so we've been stuck at home for a while. Luckily her fever finally broke yesterday, so I'm hoping the rest of us don't get whatever she had. She's been miserable! Yesterday we went to the park with Uncle Kelly and future Aunt Alyssa and the girls had a blast wearing all of us adults out. They're very good at that. ;)

Cara is still chatting up a storm and starting to put together sentences. I drew her lovey, Babo, on a magna doodle yesterday, and she said, "Babo!!" She ran to grab Babo, then came back and shoved Babo's face on the magna doodle. She told me, "Babo sees him." Smart kid!

Hopefully I'll find the energy to update more once I'm feeling better.

Nearly Two

2010-09-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it, but on the 24th of this month, Cara and Nora will be 22 months and only 2 months away from turning 2! How can that be? I keep telling them to stop growing, but they clearly don't listen to mommy.

Cara has become a little Dora fanatic. She calls her "Dona." She loves pointing out Swiper and Boots, too. On Tuesday we went to a play date at a house that had a huge Dora tent and oh my goodness, Cara was THRILLED by the giant Dora and Boots. All I need to get her is Dora stuff for her birthday, apparently. She made me sit with her and look through a Dora coloring book at that house, even, and she kept pointing out the Dora on the tent over and over again. Nora spent most of that morning playing at their play kitchen. I see a play kitchen of some sort in our future. They both love them!

Nora is really into Play Doh! I just got some out a few days ago for them to play with; I was concerned before that they would try to eat it or wouldn't get it. They have both enjoyed it, but Nora just loves it. I tell her to squish it and she gets this huge smile on her face and mashes it down. She's such an easygoing, lovable kid. Seriously! Cara can be very possessive and pushy, like a typical 2 year old, but Nora totally rolls with the punches and is so laid back. Things still set her off, of course, but overall, she's a really sweet little toddler.

Yesterday I got out some drawing paper and crayons and the girls colored at their little picnic table in our kitchen. I drew Cara's lovey, Babo, and she thought the drawing was totally awesome. She accidentally scribbled over him, and threw a fit. She kept trying to wipe away the crayon marks. Poor kid!

Cara has started saying "sign-a" for Signing Time. We have a bunch of Signing Time videos that both girls adore. So cute! She and Nora have both started signing rainbow this week. They pick up on the most random signs!

More to come

2010-09-03T08:44:00.001-07:00

Nice and overcast this morning. The girls got to play in the rain; I got some good pictures...here's a preview.

Park

2010-08-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

Park Pics. I'm only awake enough to upload right now.

Burger King

2010-08-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

Some quick pics.

Poor Nora fell flat on her back; Mommy to the rescue!

Nora thanks Cara for the fry by eating it while walking away...

Fries and ketchup... ..the fries being used more like spoons than food...

Sidewalk Chalk

2010-08-19T13:30:00.001-07:00

It's been too long since I've put some pictures up here. We played with sidewalk chalk yesterday. They're so fun to watch:

Photo Overload

2010-07-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Time for some new pictures of our growing girls! They've enjoyed summer so far, although Mommy is not such a big fan of playing outside in the heat. Last summer they were terrified of grass, so they've clearly changed their views.

Cara continues to add new words to her vocabulary, and she also has said her first sentence, which she uses often - "what is it?" She's very inquisitive and wants to know what everything is called! I'm sure this is her first sentence since we ask her this a lot, but still. It's really cool. Nora doesn't have any words still, so she's started speech therapy. Just something to help her along, and it's going well so far.

Kirby has been working on turning our 2nd story loft into a real bedroom, and it's almost done now. It's so exciting! Here he is with his dad working on it:

And now, some pics of C&N:

Jumping!

Father's Day, then and now

2010-06-23T10:06:00.001-07:00

For Kirby's very first Father's Day in 2008, the girls looked like this:

In 2009, I took these photos of them spelling "daddy":

For 2010, I repeated the spelling again. Look at how much they've grown!

Sprinkler Park Terrors

2010-06-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

While Erica was in town this week, we decided to take Cara and Nora to a local sprinkler park. They like their little baby pool and water tables, so I figured they might like a sprinkler park, right? Wrong! Nora was terrified, and Cara wouldn't even touch most of the sprinklers. Oh well, maybe they'll come around to them in time. We were there almost 2 hours and they were slowly warming up to the idea, I think.

Kirby put up a new porch swing on our back porch, and it's a big hit with the kids:

The girls had their 18 month appointment on Thursday, and Cara now weighs 24 lbs 2 oz and Nora weighs 26 lbs 12 oz. They're both in the same percentiles they've been in for a while, 50% for C and 80% for N. Healthy girls! Cara has added some new words to her vocabulary:
outside - sa-sigh
teeth - gee
diaper - gan-kee
swing - sssing

House Projects!

2010-05-22T19:39:00.001-07:00

House projects are extremely difficult for us to accomplish since the twins came along, and we finally this week got around to picking out paint colors and hiring painters to paint the outside of our house. I'm so glad we did; I love it! Here is the before from when we first moved in:

And after:

Like? Dislike? I was a little worried about using black.

Our next project is to finish off our 2nd story loft into a 4th bedroom. Hopefully that will be accomplished sometime this summer. The day that the painters pressure washed the house, Nora freaked! She's such a sweet little 'fraidy cat.

I think we're overdue some new pictures of Cara and Nora, so here are some recent ones. I'm really going to try to update this blog more!

They are loving the backyard lately, and I've just realized how brilliant west-facing homes are in Texas. From about 2:30 on, we have tons of shade in the backyard from the 2 story house! Cara really likes their baby pool, and Nora looooves watching bubbles. She occasionally catches them, but it always seems to shock her when they pop. :)

Chatty Cara!

2010-05-20T17:51:00.001-07:00

Over the past week or so, Cara has started saying lots of words. Her first real word was Daddy, which she says like "daht-eeeeee". She says "momom" for momma. Now she can also say:

eyes - "iceee"
ball - "bawwwl"
Babo (her lovey)
bubble - "bubba"
cracker - "cracka"
more - usually said while signing more
banana - "nana"

It seems like there are others that I'm just forgetting... but anyway. It's exciting to know she's starting to interact with us with words. Nora's not quite there yet, still preferring to babble or shriek to communicate, but that's okay. She'll get there!

Both girls put their hands on their heads when you say "head", and Cara also knows where her shoulders are and will point to those. They love doing the motions to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as well as some others that are sung at our local library storytime. They're just so interactive and fun! And annoyingly inquisitive and into everything. ;)

Kirby and I are celebrating 4 years of marriage today! Who knew when we married that we'd end up with 18 month old twins by now? Craziness.

The past few days we've had the outside of our house painted, the siding and trim. It was cream and dark green and in desperate need of a new paint job. Now it's white with black trim, and I think it looks awesome with our red brick. The girls were NOT fans of the first day when they pressure washed the house, and Nora especially was a clingy little monster.

I have some photos to upload sometime soon... maybe tomorrow!

The Joy of Toddlers

2010-04-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

Cara and Nora are enjoying climbing on everything these days, getting into all sorts of trouble, and keeping me quite busy. Yesterday at a friend's house Nora got stuck in a large plastic bin, and when she started crying, all we could see were her two little feet. Hopefully she forgave me for laughing while I helped her out. ;)

They both love kitchen utensils, especially spatulas, and walk around the house with them. Cara pushed hers down the slide a few times today, and Nora ate dinner with hers in one hand. What goofy girls! We switched from their big, traditional high chairs to space saver high chairs this week just to, well, save some space in the kitchen, and the trays on these have two cup holders on each side. Cara likes to organize her food in some little toddler system. She'll put a few blueberries in one, then switch and put more in the other. Then she eats them. She does this with lots of foods now.

I'm constantly amazed by how quickly they're growing. They will be 17 months old tomorrow!

Look at all of Cara's curls now!

Nora's sunscreen hair, eww!

Tumbling over the same object

and sitting (for just a moment before running away) in bluebonnets

Toddler Bully

2010-04-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

It seems Kirby and I have created a little maniacal Cara monster. She thinks it's hilarious to chase Nora and push her down. This morning she even pushed her off of her beloved sit 'n spin zebra, and trust me, Nora did not enjoy that fall one bit. My poor tender hearted Nora!

They are getting so big, so fast. Yesterday we played in a friend's backyard, complete with a water table, baby pool, and sprinkler. Nora wasn't a fan of all the cold water, but Cara loved running through the sprinkler.

Here are some pictures of their recent outdoor excursions:

Springtime, Where Are You?

2010-03-01T09:46:00.001-08:00

The weather is killing me lately! We'll have a beautiful, warm day, followed by a blustery cold one. We need more warm weather so the girls and I can get outside more. They're walking so well now, and they love going to the park. They especially love swinging, and no matter how long they swing, Nora always cries when I take her out.

Cara's become really good at following directions. She will dance, twirl, stomp, give kisses, and say cheese on command. Nora will clap, stomp, and dance, but she's not big on following directions. I think we can attribute this to her attitude. ;)

Here are a few recent photos of the growing munchkins. They're looking like such little girls now!

Just Dance

2010-01-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

I know I've really neglected this blog. Sorry! The girls are growing quickly and are learning so much.

Cara loves dancing when you tell her to dance now. Afterward we always clap and say "good job!" and she claps along with us. She loves dancing on command, although I suspect it's really the attention she enjoys. She will also stomp when asked to stomp. As you may recall from previous posts, Cara's favorite lovey is an Ugly Doll named Babo. She knows him by name and when asked to find Babo, she'll search the room for him and bring him back to me. I can't believe she understands as much language as she does.

Nora has started clapping, and she loves dancing anytime music is playing. She loves catching things rolled to her now, and she's actually pretty darn good at it! She definitely didn't get any athletic ability from me. Nora loves playing peekaboo and has started holding things up in front of her face to hide. We have a plastic pasta strainer that lives in the toy bins in the living room, and Nora will hold it up in front of her face, then peek around. She could play peekaboo for hours, I'm sure. She can throw some truly epic tantrums, but I try not to remember those...

We had a pretty rough Christmas, and spent the holiday snowed in at a hotel in Wichita Falls. It didn't really go as planned and unfortunately Cara and Nora didn't get to spend much time at all with their great grandmas, but they did get some great presents and are enjoying those daily. Here are the girls hanging out in the hotel on Christmas Eve:

And here are a few Christmas photos we had taken by a photographer friend:

Both girls are walking now:

Cara has been walking for months, but Nora just within the past few weeks has started walking a lot. She can make it across a room now.

Don't worry - I haven't forgotten about their birthday from November! I do have pictures that I'll upload at some point in the future... hopefully sooner. We'll see. Cara has an ear infection and Nora has a sinus infection, so they've been pretty unhappy, clingy little babies lately.

Quic Pic 2

2009-12-12T22:47:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken one year and two days ago. I touched it up a bit... not that it needs it =)

Quic Pic

2009-12-09T21:07:00.000-08:00

-of a tree near our house that the city always wraps with lights. I always look forward to it. Enjoy.

New Chairs

2009-12-06T11:30:00.000-08:00

So we recently received an early Christmas present: chairs for the girls courtesy of Mike and Carol. Jess and I really love the monograms and intend that the matching chairs will keep the girls from fighting over them when they're older. I was surprised to see how quickly the girls set about climbing all over them. Even Nora turned into a daredevil, climbing to the top of the chairs when placed back to back.

Nora woke up first to her new chair.

Both of the girls enjoying their new chairs.

Little People

2009-10-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

"The world is big, but little people turn it around!" - Les Miserables

I've been envisioning this post for a while about the crazy little personalities C & N reveal on a daily basis. They're not tiny little pudgy infants anymore that only sleep and eat; they're real, actual little people! Isn't that wild? These two little people let me know how they're feeling each day. They tell me when they're grumpy or tired or happy, and they make sure they get attention when they're feeling a little narcissistic. These two little people rule my world every day, so I know them pretty darn well by now.

Nora is an emotional dramatic girly girl. When she's in a good mood, she lights up for strangers, but when she's in a bad mood, a smile from a stranger will usually result in tears. Good moods can quickly turn into bad moods with her. She's fascinated with shoes and clothing tags, so she's clearly following in her mommy's footsteps with a love of fashion and shopping. Although she's not crazy about change, she tends to go with the flow and will nap just about anywhere as long as she has her paci. She LOVES music and dances to any beat. She has a few different dance moves and I'm working on teaching her the electric slide, so I'll be sure to let you guys know how that goes. ;) She's a fan of bouncing up and down or rocking back and forth when standing, and when sitting, she rocks front to back. She just can't help it - she's gotta dance when she hears music.

Cara is such a sweet little toddler. She is always friendly and interested in exploring new environments, and she's quite the gigglebox. She is very attached to a few certain stuffed animals of the Ugly Doll variety, in particular Babo:

and Moxie:

They're pretty lovable, aren't they? ;) For whatever reason, she adores them and the minute she sees one, she giggles and lights up. Babo stays in the crib and Moxie usually goes on car rides with her. Cara has recently learned the delights of shaking her head no, so when I feed her a food she's not interested in, I get a little smirk and a good head shaking no. She loves push toys that she can walk with, and she will push the one we have back... and forth... and back... and forth... over... and over again... until I get tired of pulling the toy away from whatever wall she's against.

I could keep going on about both of them, but that's probably good enough for now.

We Have Toddling...

2009-10-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

That's right - Cara is now walking! I can't believe it! She also has her third tooth and is cutting another one as we speak... I bet it'll peek through soon.

I can't just NOT mention Nora as well. She still has two teeth and prefers crawling, but that's cool with us. She's still working on getting a few hairs on her head. ;)

We've had a pretty rough week thanks to teething. Lots of crying and refusal to nap or eat make for long days for me, but hopefully next week will be better. They're growing so much and learning so many new things that I'm sure their little bodies and brains get overwhelmed.

Besides that we don't have too much going on. Kirby has been working a lot lately, but that just means the girls light up the moment he's home and crawl straight for him. Pretty cute. :) We've made it to family story time at the library the past few Saturdays, which is fun. I go sometimes during the week with the girls, but it's much easier when Kirby is there to help wrangle children.

Ball Pit!!!

2009-10-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

Parents almost always want a better life for their children than they experienced in their own childhood. I, too, share those sentiments, and whenever they come to mind, they manifest themselves in visions of in-home ball pits! Of course I'm kidding, but it's gotta be fun for the girls, right?!

Enjoy!

Trip to Tyler

2009-09-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

I had the chance to tour the Carrier (HVAC equipment company) factory in Tyler and took the opportunity for the family to visit Mike and Carol.

Friday was spent (for me) at the Carrier factory and for Jess and the girls, mainly Cara, it was spent recovering from probably the worst night had by either of the girls in a long time. We set off for Tyler at 7:00pm which is bedtime for the girls. They got to sleep quickly and stayed asleep pretty well for the four hour trip. But for some reason, once Cara woke up in Whitehouse, she wouldn't go back to sleep - until 2:00am. But she's a resilient kid, and got back to a pretty normal schedule pretty quickly. We enjoyed the rest of Friday and Saturday. We left for Austin at 7:00pm on Saturday, and thankfully, both girls went straight to their cribs without incident.

Well, I feel like posting any pictures after the previous post would be a detriment to this blog, but I'm going to do it anyway. This is a showcase of my terrible tendency to not take any pictures for days and then try to cram a bunch of photos in when the girls are tired or distracted.

Cara finally getting a hold of those shiny things on Grandpa's face.

Thanks to Mike, we've named this the Mogely crawl, after The Jungle Book movie.

Picture in front of the house. Again...last second picture. Distracted, tired girls in an unfamiliar environment.

Sunday, we spent some time in the back yard while daddy chopped down a hideous something-or-other plant. The girls are still quite leery of grass and won't crawl on it at all! Nora goes into hysterics if you try to stand her in it haha.

Trip to the Park (Preview)

2009-09-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

Quick picture from a recent trip to a nearby playground. Enjoy!

At Play / A Halloween Sneak Peek

2009-09-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more from the morning Jessica's grandmother and uncle visited.

Cara climbing on the oven:

Nora's turn to explore the oven:

They were both pretty interested in the doorstop, pulling it back and letting it go. Nora, as usual, was a bit cautious about it, but Cara showed her it was all good.

...And lastly, A Halloween sneak peek. Who's who??? =)

The Girls Meet Great Grandma Fuller and Great Uncle Pat

2009-09-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

Kirby here. Here are a couple of pictures from last weekend. The girls got to meet their Great "Grandma" Fuller and Great Uncle Pat. I think they picked the rainiest day in Austin's history to visit. However, we still managed to show them Ikea - (it's just ahead of "Visiting the Capitol" on the top-ten list of things to do when you're in Austin). These were taken as close as humanly possible to bedtime. That's why Nora is inconsolable. Otherwise, she'd find some other reason to be inconsolable!

Enjoy!

The Hour of Separation

2009-09-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

The girls have definitely begun experiencing separation anxiety lately, although it has hit Nora harder than Cara. I have to admit it's sweet seeing how excited they are to see me again or to see Kirby when he gets home from work, but... all the crying and meltdowns are a little annoying. Nora has started having all sorts of issues going to sleep at night when I leave the room. She's fine at naps, but for some reason, she won't sleep at night. Hopefully this phase passes quickly because let me tell you, she has one LOUD piercing cry.

Both girls are currently sick with colds, I think, which has made our week so far pretty miserable. They both have the sniffles and are running fevers, and boy do they get upset when a stuffy nose interferes with eating or their pacifiers. They got to meet my grandma and uncle Pat for the first time on Saturday, though, which was fun. I'll have pictures of the weekend soon, but for now, here are a few semi-recent ones:

Greetings and All That

2009-09-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

Greetings blog readers! After a long hiatus, the husband and I have decided we need to keep up a regular blog for out of town family and just to brag about our delightful twin girls. As many of you know, we previously kept a journey of our multiples pregnancy here, so if you're feeling really bored, you can read all about carrying twin girls, gaining less than 50 pounds, back pain, hospital bedrest... excitement galore!

The girls are closing in on 10 months old now, which is impossible for me to believe. This year is just flying by! Every day I'm amazed by something new they're doing, and they're really at a fun age overall now that they are mobile and can play so much.

Both girls are crawling, although Nora just recently mastered a regular crawl. For a while, she was doing a pretty funny army crawl you can see here:

Cara's been crawling for months now and is very good at it. She's an adventurous little monkey who loves climbing and pulling up on things. She loves playing games with you like peekaboo. She has a head full of blonde hair, blue eyes, and kind of big feet. Hehe.

Nora is just now getting a bit of hair, but she has lots and lots of squishable rolls. I suspect she may be a baldy for a while to come! She has brown eyes and is more timid than Cara and easily upset. She likes snuggling and music.

Our days are filled with naps, fighting naps, climbing, battle cries, diaper changes, homemade baby food, playgroups, library story times, baths... all sorts of goodies. They definitely keep me busy, and occasionally drive me crazy, but they're lots of fun and it's been great watching them grow and learn so far.