Cutest Babies Ever. 9 Months

Somehow nobody warned me about how stinking cute kids get when they're 9 months.  Pretty much every day I just think to myself, "Self, how did you get so LUCKY?"  And then I go snuggle their little cheeks. 

Yes, BYU looks good on you Savannah!

They are eating everything in site these days...they especially like anything that I am eating.  It doesn't matter if they have the same thing on own tray; it tastes better if it's mine. 

Current favorite foods:  strawberries, smoked salmon, cheerios, frozen banana chunks, green smoothies, turkey, avocado, blueberries, green peas. 

Mmm.  Blueberry smoothie and eggs.

It's especially fun right now because Lily and Savannah are realizing how fun it is to play with each other.   Lily has been crawling all over the place for a while, but Savannah's just figured it out and is much happier now that she can follow her sister around. 

Just swinging in the sunshine

And these girls LOVE each other.  My favorite part(s) of the day are when I'm getting them up from a nap and they see each other and burst out into excited squeals, start bouncing up and down, and smiling wide enough to split their faces. 

Hey sister, how's your swing over there? 

I can't find the little print out from their latest check-up with their growth stats, but they're pretty much on track to be very short (like under 10th percentile), a little chubby (Savannah's got some great thighs on her), with large noggins (like in the 95th percentile).  CUTE CUTE CUTE!  At least until they're 16....by which time we hope they are a little bit more normally proportioned. 

AWESOME!!!

We are happy, loving life, and feel so, so blessed to finally have these sweet girls in our lives. 

Dad takes the best pictures!

And seriously, who gave them permission to get so big???

Almost done with the helmet!

Easter in Austin

Now that Easter is safely six weeks behind us, I'd say it's time to put it on the blog!

We spent Easter in Austin this year with Darrell, Joy, Warren, Jared, Cameron, Nolan, Mauri, and Bandit.  And let me tell you, I think it was the best Easter ever.

We drove up Thursday night (babies slept the whole way), and woke up early Friday morning ready for the Easter festivities to begin.

We decorated eggs (which were later used in a serious egg tapping battle...Joy was the ultimate victor and I blew my chances when I dropped my most promising egg on the floor...brilliant).

Went to the Arboretum to feed the ducks, eat some great Austin ice cream, and take a picture on the giant bull statues (of course).

Had an epic Easter Egg hunt, complete with Easter sound track, in the Park's great back yard.

This is serious business.

Played my new favorite game: Don't Eat Pete (GREAT game) with candy that didn't get put into Easter Eggs.  

The Lovely Park Ladies

The Easter bunny found us all on Sunday morning and left baskets filled to the brim with books, toys, and delicious treats. 

They loved it all...don't let their expressions fool you. 

That's more like it. 

And after a nutritious breakfast (of chocolate, sugar, and more chocolate), we headed off to a lovely Easter service, followed by a seriously delicious Easter dinner.

Veggie Tales Easter while waiting for lunch

We Feast!

The Park Brothers

I can't believe we didn't manage to get a family picture amidst all of the festivities!!  

But, fun was had, eggs were found, chocolate was eaten, and memories were made.  All in all, the weekend was a smashing success.  Such a success, in fact, that the Parks can expect us to show up on their doorstep for many Easters to come.

March Madness Part 3: Ye Olde Oaks Boys

The last weekend in March marked the second annual Olde Oaks Boys Reunion.  Luckily, quite a few of Rob's good friends from his growing-up years have stayed in TX and were willing to drive to Houston (or fly all the way from Utah...thanks Alan!) for a weekend of sun, good food, and lots of fun.

Before: Playing Ultimate Frisbee at BYU circa 2005?

After: Jeremy, Amanda, Adele; us; Sloan, Taylor, Diane; Renn, Kim, Russell, Bennet; Gavin; Alan.  Not pictured: Fishers & Christensens

It's crazy that from March of 2011 to March of 2012, this group of friends has brought 5 new babies into the world....all girls!   So this year's reunion wasn't quite as footloose and fancy-free as the last was, but it was so fun for all of these little girls to meet each other.

3 of the 5: Only 2 weeks apart in age! 

Friday night we went out and had some delicious Italian food at a great little place near our house.  We spent the rest of the night digesting, chatting, and playing a rousing game of Mafia, where Amanda bamboozled her own husband to win the game. 

A classic: Knockout on the driveway

We got lucky and the pool heater was working this year, so a good portion of Saturday was spent lounging by the pool while Rob manned the grill.  Saturday night we put the babies to bed and roped a few high school boys from Rob's church class into making sure they all stayed asleep and went out for a GREAT game of Laser Tag. 

And, keeping with tradition, we did a fresh round of store-brand vs. name-brand taste tests over the weekend.

• Peanut butter cups: Costco vs. Reeses vs. Walmart.  Winner: Costco.  Loser: Reeses (!!!)
• Cookies 'n Cream ice cream: Blue Bell vs. Walmart vs. Dreyers.  Winner: Blue Bell.  Loser: Dreyers.
• Creamy Peanut Butter: Skippy vs. Jiff vs. Peter Pan vs. Walmart.   This one was tough b/c it was SO HARD to tell the difference between them!  Walmart was agreed to be a little thicker and cementier, while Peter Pan was a little oilier.  I don't think there was a clear victor.  (Rob wants it on record that he likes Peter Pan.  I liked Skippy. So, no clear victor. :)
• Miracle Whip vs. Mayo: I wanted to know if we really could tell the difference since people are so passionate about this one.  Verdict: You can definitely tell.  Miracle Whip tastes like salad dressing.

We are so lucky to have such a great group of friends so (relatively) close.  We're glad everyone was willing to make the trip with babies in tow.  I doubt that our numbers will swell so much before next year's reunion, but I guess you never know!

March Madness Part 2: The Helmet

Savannah was fitted for her helmet on the 21st of March.  Dr. T wants her to wear it for 8 weeks to help protect and shape her skull as it heals. 

First time in the helmet

I was pretty nervous about how she'd adjust to wearing it, but true to form, she took it like a champ.  Other than some serious head sweat the first few days, it didn't seem to bother her much. 

It's wayyyyy cuter than I anticipated! 

She's allowed to have the helmet off for 1 hour per day to let her skin breathe and to wash her smelly head.  Every evening when we take it off she starts rubbing her head back and forth, dying for some good scalp scratching (a la Baloo the bear in The Jungle Book).  I, of course, am more than happy to help her out! 

Savannah, Sloan Goggins, Lily

It's turning out to be quite the accessory; it pretty much goes with everything, and gets lots of attention when we are out and about.  So my only beef with it is that it makes it much harder to get at those chubby cheeks! 

March Madness; Part 1

We just had one of the most awesomest Marches everr. Seriously.

My dad, my sister, and her special friend Russ, all flew in to see Rob and me the babies and enjoy the beautiful Houston spring weather. 

Babies enjoying Kubb

We played Kubb, did some swimming, and had our own little tournament of pool, ping pong, and darts.  Katie and Russ owned ping pong, Rob and I took the pool crown, and the title of Darts Champion remains highly disputed.  

Savannah's first too-cool-for-school photo

Not our prettiest picture...

Loving it

 While she was here, Katie found out where she'll be spending the next 4-5 years of her life.   She matched at GW's psychiatry residency! 

Getting the news

She's very excited to finally KNOW, and she's also very excited about GW.  Hooray for Katie!

Cute. 

To celebrate Match Day, we drove downtown to experience the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show.  I, of course, was most excited about all of the cool food to try and had my Must-Eat list all ready.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize how HUGE the place was and didn't budget enough time to find/try everything.  Next year, I'll be better prepared.

Mmmmm...fried EVERYTHING

 We did manage to consume (as a group) a giant turkey leg, a bbq-stuffed baked potato, a humongous corn dog, an awesome cinnamon roll, fried snickers, fried oreo, fried red-velvet cake, and fried cookie dough.  

Babies were bummed they weren't getting in on the action

Best in show: deep fried cookie dough.   It was seriously awesome.  Second runner up: the corn dog, unexpectedly delicious.   Overall winner: my tummy....nom, nom, nom. 

Cookie dough on the right, Snickers on the left

We also didn't budget enough time to actually see any livestock or go on any of the rides.  Again, already planning for next year! 

Mom and Dad sharing the last of the corn dog.   Nice one, Russ. 

 The rodeo itself was pretty fun too.  Highlight there was DEFINITELY the mutton racing.  I don't think the girls will quite be ready next year, but you can never start training too soon! 

We had such a good time with everyone here.  It was really tough to see them go.   BUT....

...there's always next year!!! 

After

We're not all the way there yet, but my mom and I thought it would be fun to do a little "After" photo-shoot now that things are looking more and more normal....

Before

After

She's still pretty emotionally fragile, and has mood swings like I wasn't anticipating for another 15 years or so.  And she's got some serious stranger-danger going on....not that you can blame her after all of the strangers she's had poking and prodding her.

BUT, she's definitely getting back to her self.  She's starting to eat solids again (a little), and is occasionally willing to roll around on the ground with her sister.  And the best is that today when I went in to get her from her naps I got my favorite, open-mouth-with-3-little-teeth grin, accompanied by lots of leg-kicking and body-squirming....love that! 

1 Week

This time last week things were looking a leeettle bit different!  I'm glad we're here now.  :)