Ainsley Claps!

Ainsley started clapping Sunday, August 26th.  It is hilarious!  She can't do it without making a funny face and opening her mouth super wide.

I can't seem to get a good video of her doing it but here are a couple short clips.  Hopefully I can get a good one soon.

Ten Months

Ben and Ainsley are TEN MONTHS OLD!  Double digits!

We had their 9 month appointments this week so we have stats to share.

Ainsley you weigh 19lb 7oz which is the 61st percentile.  You are 27 inches long which is the 17th percentile.  Your head is 17 & 3/4 inches which is the 73rd percentile.

Ben you weigh 18lb 11oz which is the 23rd percentile.  You are 28 & 1/4 inches long which is the 24th percentile.  Your head is 16 & 1/5 inches which is the 1st percentile.

Ainsley - You are a curious and mobile little girl lately.  You are officially crawling and you are getting pretty fast!  You like to get into everything you shouldn't.  We are starting to say "no" to you when you get in things you shouldn't but so far you just look at us and smile.  Your favorite things to do are push buttons on the DirecTV receiver and pull leaves off the plant.  You also loving finding and playing with cords and the carbon monoxide detector.  When you decide to play with toys you really like books.

You are still eating pureed baby food though you have sampled many things from our plates and have enjoyed rice and cantaloupe.  You are still loving your puffs and are quite efficient at feeding yourself now.

You are wearing 9-12 month clothes.  You are in size 3 diapers.  You have waved a few times to relatives.

Ben - You are becoming such a big boy!  You are sitting up on your own now which we are so excited about.  You are great at playing with your toys and entertaining yourself.  You love to inspect things and if we give you something new you turn it over and over and check it out.  You nod your head and shake it no randomly and it's adorable!  You tend to nod when you are babbling like you are trying to make sure we get what you are saying.  I need to try to catch it on video!  You still LOVE your pacifier and if you don't have it you usually have your fingers in your mouth.

You still love your baby food and are quite the noisy eater.  You usually eat 3-4 jars at supper.  I don't know where you put it all!  You are getting better at feeding yourself puffs, though you have to inspect them first of course.

You are wearing 9-12 month clothes but most 9 month outfits are too short.  You wear size 3 diapers.  You have waved to the girls at the therapy clinic which surprised your daddy and he said you made him look good - ha!

This picture cracked me up!  Ben's face is so funny!

Ainsley was laughing at Daddy and Ben was enjoying eating his fingers!

I caught Ben's head nod in this video - yay!

Ainsley wasn't really feeling the video this time but we got one anyway.

Phone Pictures

This is sweet Ben holding his little hands together. I just love it when he does this because 1. I find it adorable and 2. with his stroke it is a good sign that he brings his hands together at midline and the left one is loose and relaxed.

This was their first time riding in a cart like this at the grocery store!  Ben just started sitting up on his own enough that we could put him in a cart so we were pretty excited to get a picture.  We looked to total weirdos in Hy-Vee I'm sure making goofy faces to get our kids to smile so we could take their picture in the middle of the produce aisle. 

I posted this one on Facebook but this is how I found Ainsley sleeping the other morning.  She is sitting up with her face resting on the bumper.  She is a total bumper snuggler.  And my friend Becky totally called me out - she knew that I first put my hand on her back to make sure she was breathing okay with her face in the bumper then I snuck out and got my camera and took her picture.  Ainsley likes to scare us on a regular basis with this sort of thing.  We have tried taking out her bumper but she doesn't sleep well which means we don't sleep well.  At this point we figure if she can get herself into these positions she can get herself out!

Here is another view from outside the crib. 

Last week when Jeremy took Ben to PT I was home feeding Ainsley and she puked all over.  Of course I had to take a picture first to prove my victory as cleaner upper of the grossest thing that day. 

This was one of our walks but we had to snap a picture of these adorable outfits that Ryan and Ashley got them and send it to Ashley!

I used to keep a very tidy house.  Now it looks like this all the time.  And I wouldn't have it any other way. 

I tried on bras at Kohl's one night after the babies went to bed.  I ended up with one out of this pile of about twenty.  I hate bra shopping but sometimes it must be done.  I ended up really like the Vanity Fair Age Defying Lift bra and actually went back a couple days later and bought two more Vanity Fair brand that I really like.  They are much cheaper than VS and I like that the have the back smoothing straps. 

Also shared on Facebook, this is Jeremy's windshield.  Something flew up and hit it while we were driving on the interstate and we had to have the whole windshield replaced.  Also, I almost peed my pants because it scared me so bad!

We saw this little lady on a walk we took on the Neal Smith Trail.

We had a garage sale.  This was one of my piles.  Thank goodness my mom helped me mark everything and helped a TON with the sale!

What, you mean everyone doesn't by entire cart loads of baby food? 

And finally a shot from the Dave Matthews Band show at Alpine Valley this year.  Good stuff!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly photo books offer a wide range of artful designs and embellishments to choose from.

Puffs and Sippy Cups

These two are seeming so BIG to me lately!  

After they each ate two jars of baby food they had some puffs and practiced drinking water out of their sippy cups. 

"Look Ma! One hand!"

"Are you sure this isn't how you do it?"

Nine Months

Ben and Ainsley are NINE months old!  They are getting so big and doing new and fun things all the time - it is so FUN!

Ainsley - You are still our BIG girl!  According to our scale at home you weigh between 17-18 pounds!  You are a good eater and there isn't anything we've found so far that you won't eat.  You still have pureed food and formula.  You also love puffs and have started feeding them to yourself.

You need plenty of beauty rest.  You nap way more than your brother and when it's time for a nap you let us know.  You almost always cry when we lay you down and it's like your saying, "Why are you doing this to me?!" Then you roll over to your tummy and fall asleep.  You almost always sleep on your tummy and you like to tuck your legs up under you and stick your butt up - it's pretty adorable.  You are still sleeping through the night from about 7:30pm to 6:30am. 

You have started pulling yourself up to your knees and you just figured out how to get to your hands and knees from sitting.  I imagine we'll be chasing you around soon...

Your favorite song is The Wheels On The Bus.  We sing it ALL. THE. TIME.  We have about 37 verses and all kinds of crazy things on our bus like tigers, cows, and mice.  But it makes you happy and you almost always stop crying the instant we start singing it.

You HATE being put in your carseat.  You prefer to have someone play with you or carry you around than sit and play by yourself.  You have one tooth on the bottom right.  You love your cups from Ikea and your doggie that plays music.  You also love your real dog, Daisy!  

Ben - you are still our HAPPY boy!  You are always in a such a good mood.  You love to smile and talk and laugh.  You are also VERY ticklish.  Your newest thing is shaking your head.  I'm pretty sure you know that we think it is adorable and so you do it more to entertain us. 

You are still our skinny boy.  You were 16lbs 10oz this week at the doctor.  I'm not sure how you are still so scrawny because you eat a TON!  You do great eating your purees and like most things though you aren't a huge fan of peas or green beans.  Sometimes I trick you though and mix those with some squash or sweet potatoes and you don't mind!  You aren't as big of a fan of the puffs as your sister but you'll eat some here and there.

You are getting better at sitting up.  You have some trouble with that because of the tightness on your left side from your stroke but with the help of Miss Kim at PT every week you are making steady progress.  Your plugged tear duct cleared up a couple weeks ago and we are SO thankful.  You were going to have to have surgery to have it opened if it hadn't done so on its own by the time you turned nine months.  Praise God!

You are usually content to play by yourself and have no problem entertaining yourself and playing quietly with toys.

You love to snuggle and be rocked.  You are doing this really cute head rub lately where your rub your head and forehead like you are thinking hard.  You say "Dada" a lot though I don't think you know what you're saying.  Daddy always answers you though and asks what you need.

You have THE fastest growing fingernails on the face of Earth.  I have to cut yours twice as often as your sister's.  You still sleep well, from 7:30pm to 6:30am.  You usually wake up first and start talking.  You are long/tall and are getting close to outgrowing your infant car seat.  You have BOTH of your bottom, middle teeth now and they are ADORABLE!


We love you both so much!

Ben & Ainsley Eat Puffs

Thrilling title, no?  The twins have been getting into eating puffs lately, especially Ainsley.  Until today she had refused to feed them to herself though.  I decided to get out the camera and take a video of them eating some puffs, because our lives are exciting like that, and she started feeding them to herself!  I think the one I get her on camera eating actually comes back out of her mouth but she did do it several times!  Ben still isn't quite as sure about the puffs and sometimes he still gags on them but he is liking them more.  Love these new things they do - so fun!