Seasons

I love all four seasons. I love being able to experience all that each season brings. Thankfully, for the most part, in KY we get to experience all four. I am a seasonal person; I change right along with the seasons. My taste in music changes to fit the mood of the season. The decor in my house changes a bit. The color of my clothes matches the season. I like it that way. I love all the fabulous colors that come along with spring. I love the quarter and short sleeve shirts that come out. I love how Spring feels bright and happy. I love the warmth of the sun in the summer. I love celebrating my birthday, and now the birthday of my sons, in the summer. I love splashing around in the pool. I love my pink toenails I show off in sandals & flip flops. I love the transition into fall from the heat of a KY summer to the crisp fall air. I love switching to the earth tones and chocolate browns for clothing and decor. I enjoy having the house decorated; it's the start of a couple months worth of decorations. I LOVE Christmas and most of what the season brings (minus the commercialism and traffic). Believe it or not, I love the cold weather during Christmastime. HOWEVER....once the Christmas decorations come down, I'm ready for the cold weather to hit the road. I have a tendency to wish for Spring right after New Year's.

All this being said, I'm excited at all the new fun, bright, Springy blog templates/backgrounds that are coming out. James says I'm never satisfied as far as wanting to change decor in the house (hopefully that's not so). So now that I'm seeing all these fun backgrounds, I'm wanting to change up the look of my blog. I don't get in to or have the time to mess around with all the fancy stuff some of the other blogs have, but I do enjoy playing around on Scrapblog.com. So, as I play around on there, I'll probably be changing the background to match it. My point...don't think I'm crazy if you get on here and every couple of weeks it has changed. It's just kind of become a hobby. An easy hobby because I get to play around with pictures of my adorable kids and scrapbooking on the computer is way easier than actually doing a scrapbook. Kind of a pointless post though :)

Smile

Ethan Meet Lucas

Shame on me for not making every effort to meet my goal of blogging on time. I am behind, of course. I do have plenty of pictures so hopefully that will make up for it :)

Over the last week, the boys have really become interactive with each other. Up to that point, they would look over at each other and sometimes smile at each other, and my favorite would be when I'd catch them holding hands. Now, we've started sitting them right in front of each other so they can be face to face and they love it. They smile and laugh at each other, reach out to touch on each other, and they have even talked to each other a few times. My inlaws were over last night and we had them face to face and Ethan made a noise at Lucas and Lucas responded with the same noise twice. It was so sweet. So I guess twin talk has officially begun. Catching it on camera is a must!
We finally FINALLY got some snow at the end of last week. Probably about 4in which is a lot for us. They call for snow often in the forecast and 9 times out of 10 we get little to none so we were pleasantly surprised to actually get snow this time. James, being the big kid that he is, was super excited to play in the snow and we were both excited to see the boys in their snow suits and see their first reaction to snow. Although they didn't stay out but for a few minutes, they did make snow angels.

The boys are sitting up now, unassisted. Sometimes it's for quite a while, other times it's just for a few minutes, but we are so proud of them. It seemed to happen for both of them in the same day. We were sitting them up to get them used to it and they just automatically were able to sit up. I tried first with Ethan, then later with Lucas. I was only able to get a picture of Ethan while Lucas was sleeping and wasn't able to catch him when he did it. Sadly, I haven't taken a whole lot of pictures lately, which I totally need to be better about doing, so I don't have one of Lucas yet.

If you look closely, you can see Ethan's teeth! Luke's in the process of teething. Oh yeah, Lucas is referred to as Luke by me, sometimes. I don't think I've done it on here yet, but I do. He was having a painful afternoon today. We tried the teething tablets for the first time today...not sure if they worked though because the bottle followed soon after and that always calms them.

I wanted to add a few cute pics of Lucas, but for whatever reason, it's not working right now to add more pictures.

Wordless Wednesday

New Goals

I don't like the idea of a New Year's resolution. They are easy to make and easy to break. Maybe it's the term I don't like. I do like long term goals that aren't unattainable and set just for the sake of setting a goal for the new year. I've had a lot of things I'd like to change and haven't made the time to make a list or organize my thoughts about it, until now. It's a long list and I'm going to refer to this list often and report on my progress. I tend to let things slip sometimes if I'm not held accountable. This time, I'm going to hold myself accountable and do what needs to be done. In the end I think I will come out a better and happier person.

I have broken them down into categories.

Self:
*Eat healthier
This is something James & I have been talking about, especially since the boys are eating solid foods. We want to set good examples for our boys.
*Exercise more
I wanted to start this after the boys were born and walked some while it was warm but
quickly got out of any habit once the weather turned cold. I want to be healthier for myself
and for the boys. (extra motivation:10 high school reunion in the spring)
*Do more things for myself
This one is kind of vague but self explanatory. When James worked 2nd shift (prebabies) I
had plenty of time to do things I wanted. I'd give myself pedicures, paint, make jewelry,
paint my nails, etc. I don't make or take the time to do things for myself. I need this for
my sanity and so that I don't lose myself as an individual.
*Read
There are a few books that I'd really like to read and I don't make/take the time to go to
the library, much less actually read.
*Make James take time for himself
He needs time away for a break outside of work just as much as I need a break so I need to
make sure that he realizes it's okay to take time for himself. I need to not give him a hard
time about it because I might be wanting help at the time
*Language
I need to be more aware of the bad words that slip out of my mouth. I need
to also make sure those in our house are also watching their words around the boys.
*Be respectful of my husband
I don't disrespect him. I just find myself sometimes talking to him in a manner that isn't
respectful. Is it out of exhaustion? Maybe. Out of frustation? Maybe. Regardless, it
doesn't excuse it.
*Blog more often
I don't take the time to blog as often as I'd like. I want to make sure I don't forget anything
the boys do. I want to blog about things that happen within 24 hours if I'm not able to do so
immediately.

Organization:
*Time Management
I am not good at time management apparently. I never saw a problem with it before, but
it's very obvious now that I need to make this a priority.
*Clutter
We have no extra room for unnecessary items. It's time to clear out, recycle, throw away, or
donate all items in our house that we are not using and/or plan not to use. Keeping things
just because I don't want to throw them away will not do any longer.
*Food
I have not been good about making a grocery list or weekly menu but I know it would be
for James and I to have a plan set. It would eliminate unnecessary spending at the grocery
as well.
*Recycle
This is something James & I have been discussing lately. We need to make the space for the
proper containers to recycle as much as possible.

Home Organization:
*Monthly
Pick one room a month and focus solely on that room. Organize it, decorate it if necessary,
and remove all clutter. Make each room feel complete.
*Weekly
At the end of the week make a quick run through. Run vacuum if it hasn't been done so
already. Pick up anything out of place. Take a dust rag to necessary furniture.
*Daily
At the end of the day make sure to do a quick cleanup of all baby items that have been
scattered about throughout the day

Faith:
*Church
Make every effort to go to church every weekend
*Devotional
Do at least one hour of bible study a week as the church suggests.
*Praying
Pray more often. Nuff said!
*Shine the light
I need to be a better light in this world for Jesus than I have been. I let myself get too caught
up in things that don't really matter and don't stop to do the things that I should/need to be
doing!!
*Music
I love my Christian music but I need to be better about singing it/having it on for the boys. I
was good about singing Christmas songs to the boys (when no one was around) but now it's
time to get a "Praise Baby" cd with worship songs and sing and dance with the boys.

I am CONVINCED / First Tooth!!!

that Lucas is talking!!! Yesterday he was crying and in the same fuss he said dada and mama. My cousin was standing nearby so she heard it to...not just a hopeful Mommy!! Well, last night as we watched our Louisville Cardinals play (I use that word loosely) they made a bad play and as if he knew it, Lucas said "Uh-oh!" This time, my cousin, her neighbor and I all heard it. It was hilarious!!! Tonight, he's been talking up a storm. It's adorable. I need to get the camera out and record it, but every time I get around to grabbing the camera, he's finished. It's just adorable to watch him talk and listen to his cute little voice!!

Ethan has his first teeth!!! Friday night I could tell it was going to break through the skin and Saturday morning it had. Then last night my cousin pointed out that he had a second white spot in his gum so I felt it and it was about to break skin too. Sure enough, this morning he had a new tooth. They are just getting so big!!

6 Month Checkup

Aside from the shots, we had a nice 6 month checkup. I took my long list of questions to the dr and asked every single which took like 30 minutes but hey, I didn't feel bad because I wanted to know. The boys are continuing to do well with their growth. Ethan is 15lbs 4oz and 27in long. Lucas is 16lbs 2oz and 26in long. They've done really well as far as their milestones except for rolling over. They are still not doing this much, in fact I'd say rarely. She said since they're doing everything else they're supposed to be doing at 6 months that she's not concerned, yet. We just need to make sure to have tons of tummy time above and beyond what they had before.

Ethan is doing.....
Sit up alone in tripod fashion
Sit upright with assistance and for about 30 seconds unassisted
Eats his feet
Attempts to sit up on his own from laying on his back
Attempts to get out of his carseat in order to sit up
Holds bottle assisted and unassisted
First tooth is about to break through
Scoots as if trying to crawl while on belly
Reaches for toys just out of his reach
Passes toys back and forth between hands
Puts all toys to his mouth
Loves Food!!! (he's tried squash, peas, carrots, and green beans so far)
Reaches for big people food and drinks
Learning to hold sippy cup
Talks as if saying "I good"

Lucas is doing.....
Sit up alone in tripod fashion
Sit upright with assistance and for about 60 seconds
Holds bottle assisted and unassisted
Scoots as if trying to crawl while on belly
Reaches for toys just out of his reach
Passes toys back and forth between hands
Reaches for big people food and drinks
Learning to hold sippy cup
Puts his fist and thumb in his mouth
Talks making sounds like Mama & Dada
Reaches for the Doggy
Turns around 180-360 degrees while on tummy

They're doing so well; we are so proud of them!! We are looking forward to all they accomplish in 2010!