First foods and Thanksgiving

Well I shared that the girls started eating solid foods (other than a little cereal here and there) right at 24 weeks. They started with the sweet potatoes, just like Nicky did.

Next came peas, and then butternut squash, then finally they had their first fruit, pears. Then green beans, bananas and they just today finished up their first meat: chicken. During Thanksgiving they had some sweet potato souffle, without the topping, and some pumpkin pie. They loved those! Gabi adores pumpkin pie especially.

Lily took to eating like a champ, never turning down any food. Gabi was ok with trying out a little of everything, but if you gave her too many peas she'd finally start crying. She didn't really adore anything till the pumpkin pie. That gave them both a little red rash around their mouths for a bit, but it went away after a little washup. I suspect that was caused by the cinnamon/allspice stuff in it. Next comes apples, which I anticipate them loving!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving feast. Tom made a ham this year instead of a turkey, and I have to say it was so much easier! Much less cooking time since mostly you're just heating it up and glazing it. I wouldn't mind doing this again, but I think we're committed to a turkey for Christmas since everyone seemed to miss the bird. Tom does make awesome turkey I admit. I'm sure JM was able to get a better pic, but this is the one I took:



Now we have the girls' baptism coming up Monday November 29th. I'm hoping to get a few good photos and movies of that event. The girls have beautiful gowns their Nana made for them. I can't wait to see them in them!

I am definitely not a pro at this event thing yet. But we'll have a nice gathering. My Dad, stepmother Gwen and my Aunt Janice have come all the way from North Georgia to attend. Liz, Jodi and my Mom are coming all the way from South Florida. Tom's Dad, JM, and Nana are coming and I have a few folks from work who might come. Our friend Kris will be there also, and Liz and Kris will be the godmothers. Since the baptism is kind of late, 7pm, we'll just have a cake and drinks afterwards. I was going to buy a publix cake, but the only real options were either a plain cake with flowers or one with a cross of some sort on it. I don't know, it just seemed a little weird. So I opted to make a cake instead. It's amazing what you can do with sprinkles and a bunt pan.

So anyway, baptism shots next time. And hopefully that will be done BEFORE Christmas.

Oh, ok, one more. This is Friday, after Thanksgiving. Nicky was entertaining Gabi.

Halloween- just a bit late

Ok, so it's about to be Thanksgiving. Must be time to put up those Halloween photos then!

Um, yeah. So been a bit busy. Shocking I know.

So Halloween. The girls and Tom were fighting off the cold that Nicky and I were so kind to share with them. But Tom still worked on the jack-o-lantern with Nicky:



And Nicky and I made this:



Which means we looked like this:



Black icing...kind of gross. But fun anyway. Nicky's happy pose in front of our crafts. Probably around noon-ish, and he was still in his nightshirt. Hey, it was Sunday.



After that Nicky and I got all dressed up for Trick-or-Treat. He was a scary pirate:



And I was a wicked witch (photo by Nicky):



Terrifying I know. Nicky mostly loved my furry spider on my hat. He still asks about it.

Then we headed over to a Halloween Party where Nicky met up with his friends, the dragon and the cupcake princess. The pirate was pretty focused on getting his candy though:



And then, the mean parents made them all pose for entire SECONDS on the front lawn:



But in the end, much Trick-or-Treating took place and lots of candy was extorted from the neighbors.




The girls didn't actually get to dress up this year. We have their wings on hold till next Halloween though. They were going to be fairies. That'll be just fine for years to come I'm sure.

Six months old

The girls are officially 24 weeks/6 months old today. So we stopped by the store on the way home and picked up sweet potatoes and peas for them. Today they had their first sweet potatoes, and I'd say it was a raging success! Two more days of those and we'll move on to peas. After that, well maybe pears or apples. It's a whole new world for the girls.

Of course you know there is a movie of it:


Now of course getting that movie means I downloaded the other ones off the camera too. Here's the girls admiring their big brother. They just adore him! And the feeling is mutual.


And the promised Halloween photos will be up next time. Promise!

Morning conversations and Dogs in heaven

Tom just showed me some movies he took on his iphone.

This shows the girls in their crib yesterday. That was the last day they shared a crib. They can move around too much now and so we set up the other crib for Gabi last night. They both did just fine in their separate cribs last night, which was a relief. We were worried that they'd be lonely.



Those were the outfits (minus the jeans) that they were going to wear for Halloween, along with their fairy wings, but they ended up staying home with Daddy. They all three weren't feeling well. Nicky and I went to a party and went Trick or Treating and had a great time! More photos and movies of that to come.

Now, here are two movies Tom took on his phone. It was Saturday morning, so that's me before makeup, tooth-brushing or anything. But the kids are cute enough to make up for that I think. Nicky likes talking to Lily and Gabi and having me talk for the girls, so that's my baby voice asking him questions.


Here he continues, now telling them about dragons. He'd just started watching "How to Train Your Dragon" which he seems to love. He's telling them about the Night Fury dragon named Toothless. At the end, when we were listing everyone in the family, the movie cuts off just as he was saying "and Sampson," who is our dog in heaven.


Speaking of dogs in heaven. Abbey was almost taken to the vet last weekend. She is really having a lot of trouble with her back, hips and knees. Probably arthritis. She's also very nearly incontinent, at least in the bladder area, which drives me NUTS. She was starting to have trouble even standing up, and so we were going to take her Monday. But then we gave her an aspirin, found out that we couldn't afford the money to put her down, and she got a reprieve. I imagine it won't be long now though. Cold weather is really hard on her and I hate the idea of her suffering through the winter. We've already started talking with Nicky about it. Not the most fun conversation to have. But he's doing well with the idea.