10 months

Did I really just type that?

10 months!!

How quickly time passes.

We have been busy, busy, enjoying our summer!!

We've been going on some early morning walks to see the ducks and have spent lots of time in the splash pool outside........anything to get out of the house for a while. Carson and Avery have been a little stir crazy lately. I think they are just bored with their toys and their play area. So we've been exploring new rooms in the house and taking trips to Target and Chick-Fil-A..... I know, exciting huh??

I had to be quick with my picture taking this month.

They sat nicely for about 10 seconds

And then they were off!! Both on a mission to get Avery's bow off.

Mission accomplished!!
At 10 months Carson and Avery:

-have a bad case of the crazy-flippies. Diaper changes, getting dressed, and bottle time usually consists of me wrestling them onto their backs while they try and flip over and crawl away. They've been doing the flip and crawl for a while, but it has been really bad lately....they just have much more important things to do!!

-love, love, love eating table food! They much prefer feeding themselves to being spoon fed baby food. They are both really good eaters and will eat just about anything I give them. Lately we've tried: blueberries, eggs, yogurt, cheese, plums, mashed potatoes, and their latest favorite: ritz crackers.

-are really not into drinking their bottles anymore. I am having a very hard time getting them (especially Avery) to drink the "recommended" ounces they are supposed to in a day. Don't think I'm going to have much trouble weaning them off of their bottles at a year. It's getting them to drink at all that I'm worried about.

-are waving bye, bye and Avery will occasionlly say it.

-are both standing on their own. Carson will stand for a while and Avery will for about 10 seconds.

-Carson is taking about 4-5 steps now. Avery is cruising really well along the furniture and transferring from couch to ottoman, but is not quite ready to let go. Good girl...she knows mommy isn't ready for two walkers yet!!

-love playing in my bathroom and closet....they high tail it towards my room when they hear me open the door to go in there.

-are playing tug-of-war with their toys now. If one of them has it, the other one wants it.

-both have their two bottom teeth and a top one that looks like it's about to pop through.

-love when I crawl behind them and chase them. They laugh and laugh.

-are both giving kisses. Avery will do it just about anytime you ask her for a kiss, Carson is a little more stingy with his kisses. But he will always give Avery a kiss. I say "give sissy (or bubby) kisses," and they both lean in, open mouthed, to kiss each other. I love it!! It is so sweet!!

Carson has turned into such a boy lately. He plays rough, plowing over Avery, and pulling her hair. Lately he's been wrestling her to the ground and pinning her. It's kinda funny, but Avery sure doesn't think so. It's not mean spirited, he just gets a little rough now when he's trying to play with her. Carson has been really into opening and closing things lately. He loves closing doors, and drawers (which makes me very nervous about fingers getting smashed). And this week he learned how to open and close the window on their little fisher-price house. That window has provided much entertainment for Carson this past week.

Avery has become quite a curious girl. She has started to climb. She tries to climb on top of the excersaucer and a couple of weeks ago she climbed all the way on top of their activity table. I wrapped our end table in the living room with the babies crib bumpers to keep them from climbing in the table and hitting their heads on the medal sides. However that didn't stop Avery from continuing to explore. Here she is on her way back out.

Silly girl!!

A Couple of Firsts

We have some more "firsts" to share.

What an eventful week we've had!!

Carson took his first steps yesterday July 26th...just shy of his 10 month "birthday." He's been standing alone and walking along the furniture really well these last couple weeks, then yesterday he let go of the couch and walked over to me. He can take about 3 steps before losing his balance. He did it like 4 times yesterday, but of course wouldn't perform for daddy when he got home from work. I have yet to catch it on video, but here is a picture of him standing on his own.

Avery said her first real word on Saturday July 24. She's been making lots of sounds and doing lots of babbling, most of it seeming to not be related to anything. Then Saturday she very clearly said, "Bye, bye," with the wave and everything. Then she started saying "bye, bye" in her growl voice, which we thought was just hilarious. The girl loves to growl!!
So proud of all their new accomplishments!! Now stop growing up so fast!!

Keywest....Part 2

Keywest is such a cute little town with lots to see and do.

We did a little shopping, a lot of walking, and made a trip down to the "southernmost" area in America.

Here's a family pic on the "Southernmost Pier"

Having lunch at the "Southernmost Cafe"

Carson is too cool for school.

Daddy and Carson
And of course we had to make a stop at Margaritaville.
We went out to dinner a couple of times,

and spent lots of time in the pool.

But my most favorite part of the week was the time we spent just hanging out and playing on the patio. The patio at the house we stayed at was huge.

The beautiful view from the patio.

I would sit out on the patio with my coffee every morning and read while the babies napped. It was wonderful!! I actually finished an entire book that week, haven't done that in a long time.

Here's Uncle Travis and Aunt JJ sitting in the most comfy patio chairs ever!!

Pretty girl.

They loved playing outside.

Carson loves his sissy.

I love this picture. Avery kept crawling through this table.

While our trip to Florida was a breeze, our trip home was a completly different story. Our very long day included a 4 hour car ride, 5 hours at the airport, delay, delay, delay, a cancelled flight, the threat of having to spend the night in Ft. Lauderdale, 2 very cranky babies and 1 lost suitcase. They were able to get us on a flight out the same day so I shouldn't complain because most of the other people had to spend the night. However the flight home was not so much fun. The babies were beyond tired. Avery screamed for a solid 45 minutes then fell asleep for the last 15min of a 2 1/2 hour flight. Oh, and did I mention that we were sitting in first class? Shane had to get a first class ticket in order to use his frequent flyer miles and when we got to the airport they upgraded me. So I was really excited about seeing how the other half live. After the stares and deep sighs I got from my fellow passengers in first class while I'm trying to console my screaming baby, I decided that I'm just a coach kinda girl!!

Anyway, we did have an amazing time on our vacation and were so thankful to make it home safely!!

Never too young to play dress up!

As a child (and even throughout my college years) I loved dressing up. My roomie Tiffany and I initiated dress-up Friday's in nursing school. It was great fun!! So, naturally I jumped on the chance to participate in Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A. MiMi made the outfits, we dressed up the kids, and headed to Chick-Fil-A for some free chicken nuggets and french fries. It was so fun and the kids all looked really cute!!

Aren't they so darn cute!!
Cousins: Kennedy, Taylor, Carson and Avery
That is a french fry in his mouth, not a brown snaggletooth.

We love Chick-Fil-A!!

Sweet baby Taylor!

We definately turned some heads at Chick-Fil-A friday night. Probably because we had the cutest little cows in the restaurant!!

9 months continued

Avery and Carson had their 9 month Dr. appointment today.

Avery weighed 17lbs 10oz (25%) and was 27.5in. (50%)

Carson weighed 19lbs 15oz (50%) and was 28in. (50%) (though I don't think the length measurements were totally accurate because Carson looks way more than half an inch longer than Avery)

I can't belived Avery kept the bow on as long as she did. She has started pulling off anything I try to put on her head.
A couple of things I forgot to mention in the first 9 month post:
Carson and Avery have started to bounce up and down when we sing to them.
They are both eating 3 meals a day in their high chairs. They love to feed themselves but still eat baby food too. They are both eating 5 bottles a day and are still in size 3 diapers. Both are wearing 6-12month clothes (although yesterday I put a pair of 0-3month pants on Avery which have turned into capri pants for her).
Avery still only has her two bottom teeth and Carson's first bottom tooth just popped through.
Speaking of teeth, Avery bit Carson a couple of weeks ago. Carson was standing next to her while she was chewing on a toy and she turned her head and her mouth landed on his arm and she just bit down. It was not a mean bite, I don't even think she realized she was doing it, but he did cry and there were teeth marks left behind. I'm sure it won't be the last time.

They have also started throwing little fits when I take things away from them. Avery more so than Carson. Carson will just let out a cry of protest, whereas Avery has a full out screaming, arching, throwing her head back, fit. It just seems way to early for that to be starting.

Avery has started giving kisses. It is so sweet. I say, "give me kisses" and she will grab my face and give me a big open mouthed kiss. I was reading her the "Faces" book on the plane and everytime I would turn the page she would lean down and kiss the face of the baby on the page. It was precious. She also kisses the top of Carson's head. Such a sweet girl!!
As I said in the last post, Carson has become a little climber. He tries to climb up your side when you are holding him and he recently started climbing on his toys. Makes me so nervous. And he still tries to climb on the fireplace every chance he gets.
We met some friends at Chick-Fil-A a couple of weeks ago for lunch and Carson and Avery had their first trip to the indoor playground. They of course went straight for the slide.

Happy 9 months Carson and Avery!!

Key West... part 1

Florida... we miss you!!

We got back from our vacation in Key West on Saturday.

Shane's mom rented a house for the week and the whole family was able to come!

Carson and Avery did great on the trip down there. They slept for part of the two and a half hour flight and were happy and playful for the remainder of the flight. We then had a 4 hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale to the Keys. It was a long day, but they did so good!

We started off the week with a trip to the beach. While the boys were off fishing, all the girls and the babies went to the Bahia Honda State Park/beach. It's a natural beach so there are lots of trees and grass and way too much seaweed. Wasn't a fan of the seaweed.

It was so fun to watch the babies explore the sand. They mostly just wanted to eat it. They probably ate 2 pounds of sand each. Ok, I'm exaggerating a little, but they did eat a lot of sand. And let me just say that sand does not digest well, so we definately saw that sand again!!

Anyway, Carson and Avery enjoyed crawling around and feeling the sand.

And of course, they loved the water. We took them out into the ocean and let them splash, then we sat and let the waves come up over our legs. It was very exciting.

Aunt JJ and Avery waiting for a wave to come.

Avery crawling in the sand.

Carson after a big mouthful of sand

Just playing

Carson with his Great Grandma

The beach was fun, and the boys had fun catching some sharks!!

Our week was very fun, but busy. We had several activities planned and pretty much did something everyday.

I was able to go with Diane, Ted, JJ, Travis and Catherine on a sail boat one day to snorkle and snuba dive. It was so fun and relaxing to just sail around the islands and take in all the beautiful scenery. Shane stayed home with the babies so I could go out and relax for a while, so sweet of him!! The couple that took us sailing live on their boat and so does their cat. I thought it was a little strange that they had a cat living on a boat, but that cat couldn't be more at home.

Here's a picture of Captain Ron

We also went on a glass bottom boat trip out to a coral reef one day while the boys were playing golf. It was a beautiful boat ride out to the reef and it was cool seeing all fish swimming on the bottom of the ocean.

Me, Carson, Aunt JJ, Avery, and Catherine (Shane's cousin).

Doesn't Carson kinda look like Gilligan?

Aunt JJ and Avery hanging out on the boat.

We were so thankful to be able to spend so much time with Shane's family.

Carson and Avery got a LOT of attention.

Carson with his Great Grandpa

Uncle Travis and Carson

Avery loves her Grand-D

We made a second trip to the beach later on in the week so that Shane could see the babies play in the sand and water. We went to the Fort Zachary Taylor beach in Key West and it was beautiful!

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Swimming in the ocean

Pretty girl!! She loved the beach!!

They loved crawling in the water.

So much more to share, but I have run out of time (and space). So I will finish up our vacation post later, but here is one last picture of my cute little beach bums!!