My First Mother's Day

Happy First Mom's Day

Well, yet again I am way behind on my blog posts. Sunday May 13th was a very special day for me. It was my very first Mother's Day. To say it was an incredibly special and wonderful day is an understatement. We spent the weekend with my mom in town. It was really special for me to be able to spend my first Mother's Day with my mom and the babies with their Nana. I woke up to a yummy breakfast made by Kevin. I was hoping the babies would have their first the night of sleeping through. Unfortunately we're not even close but I could wish. Regardless I was so excited to wake up and see my sweet beans. Mom made special outfits for the babies to wear for me on Mother's Day. They were SO cute. They both had a onesie on and Avery had the cutest little TuTu I've ever seen. Their onesies read...Happy First Mom's Day. My mom worked hard on these little outfits and I will cherish them forever. I received so many First Mother's Day cards from lots of thoughtful people. Kevin was thoughtful enough to go out and purchase cards for my sweet babies to give to me. I didn't even know he knew to do that. He is one special guy. He also got me a very thoughtful and memorable gift. He added to the charms on my Pandora bracelet and picked flowers from our yard as garnishments. I received two beads from Avery and two from Grayson.

Kevin with his baby girl on Mother's Day morning...I love this picture!

A & G

We spent the rest of the day running around the neighborhood attending mother's day parties. Our good friends and neighbors have a huge Mother's Day get together with their family and friends every year. This year we were around to attend. Let's just say the babies were a hit and I'm not sure I held them at all while we were there. They were passed all around so I could enjoy eating and having a mimosa or two! Then we headed back to the house for a quick visit from my God Mother Annette and Suzanne. They hadn't seen the babies in weeks so they had to make the trip even though they couldn't stay long. Lastly, we headed to Casey's house, another neighbor of ours. We enjoyed freshly caught crabs and another yummy mimosa! All in all it was a super busy packed but incredibly special and fun day. I hope every Mom out there was able to enjoy their special day...I now know how well deserved Mother's Day really is :) love my little beans and each and every day I thank them for making me a mommy!

3 generations

The reason I am a mom :)

Too cute for words...

Some of the many baby holders we came across on Mother's Day

Love my family

Sunday Smiles

Today Avery has had the biggest smiles for us. Both babies have really started reacting to us in the last week with great big smiles and little baby noises. I'm loving these moments!

10 weeks already?!?!

Where has the time gone??? These sweet babies have been in our lives for 10 whole weeks...double digits!!! They are beginning to feel heavier to me everyday as I still occasionally attempt to carry them around at the same time. I definitely think we've reached the 7 pound mark :) Our little peanuts are finally wearing newborn clothes. I'm bittersweet about this. We have some pretty cute newborn outfits but I can't bare to put away their itty bitty preemie clothes. Avery can still fit in a few of her larger preemie outfits. Every day the babies seem to get more active and alert. Kevin and I have really enjoyed cooing and oohing in their sweet little faces watching how they will react. Grayson is still our laid back, chill little dude and Avery is our little spitfire with tons of attitude already. We love how very different their little personalities have been since day one! Both babies are SO close to full on real smiles. They both give these little side mouth smirks but we're still waiting for big ol smiles and giggles. Grayson is also perfecting his thumb sucking skills. A few times this week I've caught him with his thumb in his mouth and his other little fingers curled in perfect thumb sucking position. But he still tries to jam his entire fist in his mouth and ultimately frustrating himself. The babies are sleeping better and longer each day on their first stretch of night sleep. Twice last weekend I got to sleep until 4:30 before they woke to feed. I felt so good after those long stretches. But...they were short lived and the next few nights were a little rough.

I'm not really sure how we came up with nick names for the babies but I've noticed we are constantly calling Grayson "out little buddy" and Avery "baby girl". I've also noticed when talking to them we call them "our little boobles" not really sure where this one came from either.

Playmat tummy time

Got TWINS???

Love his little bug eyes

 

Finally got that thumb in the correct position

 
  

 

Pirate babies




 



Poppy and GiGi came to visit us this past weekend!!!! Poopy hadn't seen the babies since they arrived. We had such a great time and didn't stop the entire time they were here. Poppy helped give the babies bottles and spent lots of time holding his granddaughter and grandson. We went out to lunch, spent time at the Annapolis Bar-BAY-que festival, spent time on the beach for a Cinco De Mayo party my neighborhood was having, and even took the babies to a really nice brunch. We only wish we lived closer so we could have more time with Poppy and Gigi!

Gigi, Uncle Austin, Poppy, Avery, Grayson, Kevin & I.



Poppy & Grayson





Excursions with Aunt Devin

The second half of the week spent with Aunt Devin was just as much fun as the first half. She helped me take the babies to the doctors office, run errands, pick up groceries at the Amish Market, cuddle babies, feed babies, change babies, and so on. We even took a trip to Baltimore and the Inner Harbor. Devin is in love with pinball...little did I know the National Pinball Museum is in Baltimore. So, off we went to play 2 hours of pinball. It was $5 all you could play. Needless to say Devin was in heaven. The babies did great and slept the whole time we were there. After pinball we walked over to the Inner Harbor and had lunch.

Saturday came way too quick and sadly we had to say goodbye and send her off to the airport. I literally cried the whole way home. This was by far the best trip I've ever had with Devin visiting. She helped me so much with the babies and it was such such a special feeling seeing her with her niece and nephew. We just hope she can come visit a lot! For now we have pictures :)

She enjoyed giving Grayson mohawks after his baths

Double duty

Cuddle time...as you can see Avery was pretty happy!

2 Months Old

On February 18th the babies turned 2 months old! I've seen many of my friends post how quickly time flies and how sad they are that it all goes so quickly. I guess I'm jumping on the band wagon because time really is flying with these two sweet little beans. I cannot believe I am already posting about their second month. I feel like they just came into this world. We couldn't be any happier with the changes in our life since they arrived.





Sleepy little baby

In the past month the babies have begun to stay awake a little longer. We usually get 2 long (relatively speaking) wake cycles throughout the day with both babies. Sometimes it is at the same time and sometimes it is at differing times. When they are awake I am eager to hold, cuddle, and interact with them. I hate leaving them in their bouncy seat or swing when I know I can be enjoying them and spending time bonding with them. I've also found that they are showing me a fussier side at times. The first 6 weeks home all the babies did was sleep and eat. I knew it was a little too good to be true. In the last week or two the babies have become a bit more clingy and need me to hold them more often. They have also decided to give me a few rougher nights when they don't want to go right back to sleep after feedings. This happened a few days in a row after their shots so it may be their little bodies reacting to the virus circulating their system. But all in all they are pretty good babies and I can't complain. I'm just having to get a little trickier at how I get things done throughout the day.



Avery passed out after tummy time



During this month we had more visitors. Aunt Rose continued to stop over and spend time with the babies at least once a week. Nana and Granddaddy Gurley came for another visit and Aunt Devin finally arrived. She was here for a whole week and we enjoyed every moment. More to come on the rest of her visit. We had two doctors visits during this month. One at 5 weeks old and one at 8 weeks old. At 5 weeks Avery weighed in at 5 pounds 7 ounces and Grayson weighed in at 5 pounds 11 ounces. At their 8 week, or two month check up Avery weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces and Grayson weighed in at 6 pounds 12 ounces. At their two month check up they also received their first out of hospital shots. I hate it because they are too little to understand what is coming and the poor shrieking screams they both let out just broke my heart. Needless to say they got a lot of extra cuddle time that day.



Grayson's poor little post shot leg



Avery's poor little post shot leg

Post Shots :(

The babies also had their first visit to the beach in our neighborhood this month. We can't wait to enjoy time down there as much as possible this summer. With how much they sleep they make it pretty easy on me. I pack them up in their stroller, find a nice shade spot for them, and mommy gets a chance to take in a little sun and enjoy her book. Now that they stay awake a little longer at times we've noticed they are getting closer to a few milestones. Both babies seem so very close to smiling. They haven't quite let out a definite non-gas smile. We are anxiously awaiting a smile and a giggle from these little beans. They seem to be tracking us and close objects better. They also seem to know me for sure and usually Kevin. They immediately calm once I pick them up when they are upset. We've tried tummy time a few times but they aren't huge fans. This actually surprises me because they LOVE laying on us chest to chest. Avery actually passed out one morning when I placed her on the mat for tummy time. Kevin and I's 1 year anniversary was this month as well.



Our first beach visit



On April 2nd I was forced to leave my babies for the first time. Even though it was just dinner and we had the best babysitters I could ask for (Annette and Suzanne) I cried leaving them. They just seemed to tiny to leave and I knew they would just sleep if we took them with us. A few tears and pictures later and we were out the door. Kevin took me to dinner in downtown Annapolis at . It was a beautiful restaurant on the water. We ate and headed straight home to our precious lil babes. Kevin gave me one of the most thoughtful gifts ever. He got me a Pandora bracelet with a few charms. Two very special charms were a little boy and a little girl representing Avery and Grayson. I didn't even know he knew what Pandora was. I was definitely wowed by this one. The best present of all is having two little babies of course...but who would have thought we would be a family of four by our first anniversary haha! I wouldn't change it for ANYTHING!

All in all it's been a pretty eventful month with more to come for sure. I am still home enjoying every moment with these sweet babies. I am dreading the day I have to go back to work but know it's inevitable. For now I am trying not to think about it too much so that I can enjoy my time with them.

Having fun with Aunt Devin

We are having a blast with Aunt Devin in town. We definitly surprised her by picking her up at the airport. I ran up to her with both babies in tow and basiclly tossed Grayson right at her. She was shocked and excited :) Grayson even dressed up for Aunt Devin...had to look spiffy!

We started off our visit with mom (Nana) in town to spend time with us as well. On Saturday we went to the Amish Market in Annapolis for brunch and to pick up a few groceries. We also had Suzanne join us later in the day. We decided to go to downtown Annapolis to walk around with the babies and have dinner. We decided on Pusser's because it was so nice out and we could sit outside on the water. It was such a great time but we were exhausted after all we packed in to the day. Walking around downtown Annapolis Dinner at Pusser's

On Sunday Annette joined us and we headed down to the beach in our neighborhood because it was in the upper 80s...in April! The babies had their first trip to hang out at the beach. We kept them under the covering and they were happy as could be. We ended up bringing dinner down to the beach and grilled out.

Hanging with my babies at our neighborhood beach

The cutest little crabby butts I've ever seen!

Today is the babies 2 month birthday (8 weeks)! I cannot believe how fast two months has gone. We had the babies 2 month appointment today. I will post tomorrow on their stats and picture update. For now we are enjoying our time with Aunt Devin because we know it will go too fast. She has been cooking us YUMMY meals and helping mommy take care of the babies. It has been sooooo nice! We wish she could stay forever.

Aunt Devin is on her way...

We couldn't be more excited that Aunt Devin is FINALLY on her way to visit us and meet the babies for the very first time. The babies made their early arrival just after Devin had booked her flight to come visit for a week during her Spring Break. As much as she wanted to jump right on a plane and come visit we knew it would be best for her to wait and come when she could stay for the week. She almost bought a weekend flight because she wanted to meet them so badly. Now 8 weeks later the time is finally here and Devin is mid flight on her way to see us. She thinks Suzanne is picking her up and bringing her to our house due to her late arrival at National airport. Little does she know we couldn't allow that and we are packing the family up and heading to DC to pick her up ourselves. We plan to go by Suzanne's house for a bit, catch some dinner in Arlington and then head to the airport to meet her at baggage claim. We are beyond excited! She is going to be so surprised and so happy to see these babies as soon as she gets off the plane :)

We have lots of fun things planned and warm weather is in the forecast. Stay tuned for pictures and updates of our week together.