Talking baby

Here is our sweet little boy saying dada and mama. He has been saying it for a while now, but now he will repeat after us and say which ever one we are saying. He's so cute!

She should be ready for solid food... right?

Here is what Maddie is now doing with her baby food... spitting it out! I'm working with her on her solid foods since she is spitting out the baby food, but it's easier said than done! So this is what I have to work with... she either spits out her baby food or gags up her soft table foods. I can't wait until we get over this hump and get her eating solids!

9 month well child check up

We had our 9 month check up today. Gavin weighs 19 lb 4.5 oz (24%) and is 29.5 in long (80%). At Gavin's 6 month check up, he was 29 % for weight. Even though Gavin gained weight since his 6 mo. check up, his percentile went down for weight... so the Dr. told us to make sure he's drinking and eating enough. Basically nothing to worry about, we just want to make sure our long and skinny boy continues to gain weight! Madaleine weighs 20 lb 12 oz (77%) and is also 29.5 in long (94% for girls). They got their blood drawn to check for anemia, and everything was great! They also got their flu shoots... poor babies!

They are doing everything a 9 month old should be doing developmentally... pulling up on things to stand, cruising, saying mama and dada. Now we get to work on sippy cups more and trying to get them to eat table food instead of baby food! The sippy cup thing isn't working out that well... the babies just chew on the nipple and won't suck the juice out of it. And the table food thing... HA! I have tried third foods with Gavin and some mushed up table food. He almost always gags it out or throws up... he is still not ready. Madaleine is a hit or miss with it. Some days she does great, and other days she won't have anything to do with it.

For the past week and a half, both babies have been having fevers on and off again. Gavin's highest was 103 and Maddie's was 102. I took them into the Dr. last week, and she said it's just some bug. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they both start doing better (today was the first day of no fevers!)

Here are a few recent pictures. They have been changing so fast and doing the cutest things lately! Gavin is so precious when he does his "speed crawling". I have never seen a baby move so fast.. it's so cute! He also talks out of the side of his lips... I just adore the way he says mama :). Maddie has been giving us those priceless smiles a lot and melting our hearts. She is also doing this thing where she will stick something in her mouth and just leave it hanging there while she goes about doing whatever else she wants. It's so funny to see her crawling or playing with a toy when her bottle or something is hanging out of her mouth like she forgot it's there! I love those babies so much... they are growing up so fast!

Bath time fun


What kind of Mom would I be if I didn't have naked bootie pictures?!


Example of Madaleine having something hanging out of her mouth while she does other things


I can't believe how big they are getting!

Getting back to normal after Ike

Whew... what a mess Hurricane Ike was! We were fortunate enough to have left out of town early (we had originally planned a vacation for that weekend in Austin). We had planned on coming home Sunday night, but of course we didn't have power, so we headed up to Dallas to stay with Len's sister for a couple of days. We eventually made our way back home Wednesday night. It was soooo good to be home again. We were gone a total of 7 days, and it was not the "vacation" we had planned at all. The babies were very fussy while out of town... I guess they are more used to their routine here at home than what I thought. We were very fortunate that we did not have any extensive damage. Our tree was up rooted, fence blown over, and a few shingles blown off of the roof... nothing horrible. All in all, we were very fortunate! We are glad to be back home, and glad that this is all behind us!

Oh Madaleine....

Madaleine has been keeping me on my toes lately! A few days ago, she discovered where we keep the cat food bowl. Since then, she always wants to go over to it and explore whats in it. I was in the kitchen making dinner when I noticed that she was crawling towards the bowl. I would call her name, she would stop crawling, sit up, and look at me. I would tell her, "No... don't go over there". She would flash me one of those adorable smiles and keep heading towards it. My hands were dirty since I was handling raw meat, so I was tyring my best to keep talking to her so that she would be distracted. She eventually made her way over to the bowl just as I was washing my hands to go get her, and next thing I know she was chomping down on some cat food! I dug it out of her mouth before she could swallow it, but she had a horrible look on her face as if she were saying, "Mom!! Why did you let me eat this nasty stuff???"

Yesterday, I was sitting on the living room floor with Gavin feeding him a bottle. Madaleine was in the living room with me playing with her toys. She saw Gunther (one of our cats) sleeping by the couch, and decided that she needed to go chase him. By the time I had put Gavin down, she had already gotten over to Gunther, Gunther had ran behind the couch, and she went after him! She got herself stuck behind the couch and the wall. I was debating on whether or not I should go get the camera before I got her out, but I decided that that would make me a bad Mommy, so I pulled her our from behind the couch before I could get a picture. I will admit... I never go behind my couch to clean, so when I pulled her out she was a big huge dust bunny! It was hilarious to see.

As if that wasn't enough, today I was sitting on the living room floor (that seems to be where I always am!) eating Apple Jacks cereal. Maddie has been very interested in whatever we are eating lately, and this morning was no different. She started pulling up on me trying to get my bowl. She managed to get a hold of it, and a few apple jacks fell out. I quickly picked them up, threw them away, and sat back down to eat. About 30 seconds went by and I started thinking to myself, wow... I don't have anyone pulling up on me or anything... they are both being so good! I looked over at Madaleine and noticed that the reason she was so content was because she had found an apple jack and was eating it! At least this time it wasn't cat food, right?!?!

Such a big boy!

Gavin has seemed to charge ahead of Madaleine when it comes to teeth! Gavin now has three teeth on the bottom and two on top. Maddie has two on the bottom, but is still working on the two up top. I have started brushing their teeth twice a day... it is so cute. Here is a short video of Gavin brushing his teeth like a big boy! We thought it was so cute that he was actually holding the tooth brush. :) Oh, and by the way (we have a lot of catching up to do with my posts) we have two crawlers on our hands!

In loving memory

It has been a very long summer for my family since my Father was diagnosed with a brain tumor in early June. Since his diagnosis, we were able to spend some wonderful moments with my Dad, moments that I will treasure forever. None of us knew that his days were as limited as they were, and he passed away August 21. Even though we knew the inevitable would happen, none of us expected that it would be as quick as it was. It has been a struggle loosing him, as I'm sure it will continue to be in the months to come. My Father was such a wonderful man, no one can ever replace him. Family meant the most to him, and every day that he had with us was another day that he showed us how much he loved us. Even though he was tired in his last few months, he always made a point to spend as much time with his family as he could. He always said that his brain tumor was the worst and best thing that could have ever happened to him. His tumor opened his eyes to a lot of things that he would have never imagined possible. In his last few months, he loved and lived more than he ever had before, and I am so happy that he got the chance to do that. As I am here grieving, I know that my Dad is watching over me with a smile on his face. I miss him so much, and will love him forever.

My Dad always loved to come over and feed Gavin his apple juice and try to rock him to sleep so that they could nap together.


I know I have posted this picture before, but this is my absolute favortie picture of Maddie and my Dad.


This was awseome. My Dad would come over every Saturday while I was at work to help Len out with the babies. One day on my way home, this was the rainbow that I saw. The picture doesn't do it justice at all... it was HUGE, it went from one end to the other. When got home I ran inside and got my Dad. My Dad had never seen a rainbow so perfect. It put a smile on all of our faces, and I will always remember that day.