Seven Month BDays

Today marks the seven month bday for Caden and Caroline. We did absolutely nothing to celebrate. :) This month flew bye. Here are just a few of the new(ish) things that have gone on this month.

• Caroline has gotten good at sitting up (though she still likes to have a boppy behind her in case she falls). Caden is sitting up some but he is just not interested in doing so. He would much rather stand.
  
• Caroline now lunges towards anything she wants. We have to be very careful with her otherwise she'll just jump out of your arms.
• Both kids easily roll both ways but Caden really makes it look effortless. He really enjoys rolling around and even likes tummy time when he is the one who initiated it. This can sometimes be a problem when we put him in bed.
• Both kids look like they would like to crawl but they do it very differently. Caden lifts his but and tries to push off with his legs but just can't get enough traction to go very far. Caroline has a more of a lunge approach.
  
• Both kids do well sleeping through the night. We normally put them down around eight and they wake up a little before seven. They make it through most nights without needing anything from us.
  
• We started feeding the kids solid foods and they have now had rice cereal, oatmeal, peas, green beans, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. Amy makes some of it and some of it comes from HEB. Caroline loves oatmeal, squash, and sweet potatoes. She has become a pretty good little eater. Caden likes oatmeal the best. I'm not sure what his second favorite would be. He started out eating better than Caroline but she improved more quickly than he has.
• Teeth have started to come in. Caroline has two while Caden has one.
• Caden is a good little player who likes toys. On the other hand, Caroline is a world class player who LOVES toys or anything she thinks might be a toy. When Amy takes Caroline to the store, Caroline is very excited about everything that Amy puts into the cart. She assumes it is a toy for her and would like to play with it.

Here is a picture of Caroline the first time she tried peas (which were her first vegetable). She did not really like them but she enjoyed being fed. Doesn't that food look delicious? It reminds me of the green slime from the old Nickelodeon You Can't Do That on Television.
Here is Caden getting to try peas for the first time. You can that he absolutely loved them. The first bite of anything new is always a shock to Caden and Caroline. Normally, they just make a "yuck" face but I think Caden was a little grumpy when this happened and we was expecting oatmeal. :)
Here is Caroline with one of her favorite toys. She loves this dog. It sings and talks. Amy and I find this toy particularly annoying. It loudly sings annoying songs that get stuck in your head.
Here is Caroline with her current favorite toy. She loves this. I think it is because she sees daddy playing with it so much.

Visit from the Cousins

This weekend, Ella, Will, and Cal were in town without their parents. Amy and I were very busy this weekend but tried to make as much time as we could to see them. Here are a few of the highlights.

• For lunch on Saturday, we met the cousins at Terra Burger. Ella, Will, and Cal were very excited to see the twins. They immediately stopped playing on the playground and came to entertain our little ones. Ella had the idea that she would entertain one baby while the boys would get the other. Then, when Ella was ready to switch, the would swap babies. This went on for a good while.
  
  
• On dinner Saturday, Caden was sitting in his car seat and he got a mildly upset. To cheer Caden up, I picked him up so he could see me. Will's response to this was, "I think Caden would be happier if you turned him so he could see me."
  
  
• On Sunday morning, the Baker kids wanted to take turns taking pics of the babies and take turns posing with the babies. Several of these pics can be found below.
  
  
• Ella was very sweet to Caden while he was swinging. She put her face close to his and let him poke at her and grab her. Caden even pulled her hair (this can hurt) and Ella didn't complain. I attached a pic of Caden trying to pull Ella's hair.
  
  
• On Sunday afternoon, we had our traditional Baker kid lunch at Phil's Ice House with Amy's Ice Cream to follow. When it was time for us to leave, I found Will dancing and jumping on the booth (yes, everything goes when his parents aren't around) which was making Caden crack up. Caden was laughing loudly and smiling from ear to ear. There was actually a small crowd enjoying the show including the table of random people next to us. Everyone agreed that we had found a babysitter. I wonder if Will is free next weekend?
  
  
• We already knew Ella and Will loved the twins. Cal, on the other hand, has never been fond of being with them. However, this weekend, Cal actually played a little with our kids. Some of his playing might have been a little rough for the kids but I was very happy to see Cal's feelings warming towards the twins.

Here is Grammie with all of her grandchildren.
Caden messed around with his tongue a lot the today. Amy and I think he is using it to feel his first tooth.
Caroline LOVES toys. The Baker kids made sure she had plenty to keep her entertained.
Two dirty kids. :) Picture by Ella.
Cal prefers to sit on Grammie's lap when he poses for a pic with Caroline. I think either Ella or Will took this one.
Will snapped this one.
Here is Caden trying to get a hold of Ella's hair. If she isn't careful, he'll get away with a handful.
We look forward to the cousins coming to visit. Maybe they'll even bring their parents next time.

Caden's First Tooth

Caden's first tooth came in today!

I found it at a friend's birthday party. Someone was holding Caden and asked if he was toothing. I said I thought he was but nothing had come in yet. I decided to stick my finger in his mouth the check again and sure enough, there was one little bottom tooth! You can barely see or even feel it but it has poked through. Amazingly, Amy checked yesterday and I checked this morning and there was nothing. They sure come in fast.

Caroline currently has two teeth. Her second tooth came in two days after her first one. We'll need to keep checking his mouth. I sure hope Amy finds the next new tooth. Despite her checking nearly every day, Amy has yet to find one and is feeling a little left out.

Bluebonnets

Every kid born or raised in Texas needs their picture taken with some bluebonnets. With the bluebonnets being in full bloom, Amy I definitely wanted to photograph our little guys.

Amy found a nice patch close to our house for us to photograph Caden and Caroline. They both loved it. Caroline smiled much of the time while Caden analyzed everything and took in his surrounds. I tried to explain to them that it is against the law to pick bluebonnets, but they didn't seemed to care. I'm sad to say, a number of bluebonnets were harmed in the filming of this adventure.

I thought they needed a pic wearing their bunny ears.
Caroline has the nicest smile. Don't you just want to pick her up and give her a big hug and kiss?
Caroline is not the only one that can smile. Caden has a nice smile as well. He is just a little more stingy with smiling...unless he is flying around of course.Another one of my little guy.
I feel like Caroline was trying to call towards the camera in this picture.
Despite the bald head, no bow, and blue clothes, this next one is of Caroline. I really like this picture...even though, to the untrained eye, you might not be able to tell that this is a baby girl. :)
Caden was very interested in this yellow flower. It was the only yellow flower within three feet of him. Caden played with it for several minutes. I can't believe the flower did not fall apart.
There was a nice patch of yellow flowers for us to pose in as well.In this picture, I think Caden was trying to talk to Mommy.I sure hope bluebonnets are not too poisonous because both kids got a taste of the flowers. Caroline got a taste by stripping the blue pedals off of one flower and putting them in her mouth. I had to dig around in her mouth to pull them all out. Luckily, Caroline didn't mind Daddy doing this one bit. Caden had a different approach. He stuck an entire bluebonnet in his mouth by leaning over to it and pulling it in. This is a picture of him starting his feast. I didn't get a picture of it all the way in his mouth because I was too busy putting the camera down so I could pull it out.
I like this one of the two of them. It is very difficult to get a good picture of two kids at the same time. I guess this one is cheating a little by letting Caroline be blurry in the background.
We had a lot of fun taking pictures of the kids. We might try to make another trip or two out to take some more.

Playgroup at the Park

Our Thursday afternoon playgroup decided to take advantage of this great spring weather and spend our afternoon at the park. Sadly, I never took one single picture of Caden. Poor brother! He was cold, and I only had one jacket, so, I decided Caden was manly enough to wear the pink jacket. He looked adorable, but really, is there any need to photograph your son in a pink jacket?
Here is Caroline in sporting her new Sunglasses she got from Grammy and Poppa for Easter. She looks ready for spring!

Lynnae and Caleb having fun!

Brandi eating a special treat while Atticus hangs out enjoying watching all the kids play.....

Joshua taking a short break from playing while he hangs out with his mommy!

Shanna and one of the twins. It's nice to have someone with twins in the group so we can share experiences!

Asher hanging out with his favorite lady!

Braden sporting his OshKosh Jacket. Cutie!

Caden, Caroline and I had fun at the park! Looking forward to doing it again soon!

Our First Easter

Our Easter celebration started on the Thursday before Easter when Grammy brought the kids some Easter baskets. They were very cute baskets with the kid's names embroidered. The baskets were filled with all sorts of good stuff including bathing suits, bunny ears, and some Easter books.

Here is sweet Caroline posing with her basket. (Actually, I don't think she had seen it yet when I snapped this picture.)
Caden was very excited to see he got an Easter basket.
I'm not sure what's up with him here but he looks like we've thoroughly scared our little man.Doesn't Caroline look cute in her bunny ears?On Good Friday morning, Amy and I packed up the kids and headed to Dallas. The drive went very well and the kids slept almost all the way there. Caroline woke up starving about 15 minutes from my mom's house so Amy hopped into the back seat (I pulled over) and fed her in her car seat while I continued driving.

Friday night, we visited the Baker 5 for a few hours. We even got to watch Will at his first T-ball practice. The nine of us went to dinner and cousin Will insisted on sitting next to Caden during dinner. He was the only person sitting next to Caden but it worked out well...though I was a little worried when Will showed Caden a knife and fork. :) Amazingly, Will kept Caden entertained the entire time we were at dinner. He is sure good with our kids.

The sleeping arrangement at my Mom's house on Friday night was not all that great. We tried to put both kids in the pack and play they used to share. They are now too big to sleep on the top but the bottom didn't have a divider. We separated the kids as much as we could and hoped for the best but that just didn't work out. When one of them woke up, they would see the other one and grab them waking them up. This lead to two crying babies that couldn't calm themselves back down to fall asleep and a rough night for Mommy and Daddy (mostly Mommy). Sadly, the Baker's had offered to loan us their pack and play but Amy and I forgot to take it.

On Saturday, we went to lunch at Pappasitto's with my Dad and Peggy. The two of them were going on a cruise (I miss cruises) on Easter so we wouldn't get a chance to see them the next day. The kids were a little bit grumpy because of the rough nights sleep but I think they were still very cute. The kids were given a couple cute stuffed bunnies (and Caroline thought they were both her's).

That night, we let Caroline have the pack and play for herself and we made a bed on the floor in Angela's old room for Caden. We put and exercise mat and blankets down surrounded by a pillow barricade. This worked much better and everyone had a relatively good night sleep.

And finally, Easter arrived! That morning, Grandma gave the twins a basket full of good stuff. At first, the tissue paper was very exciting.
But then they found the stuff behind the paper. Caroline immediately claimed the little lamb. Seconds later, she also claimed the ducky. She tried to claim everything in the basket but Caden kept one of the toys a little too far away from her to get.After the excitement of Easter baskets, we went to church. Amazingly, we were on time (that never happens anymore) and there was an entire row open in the back corner for us. The place was packed but we lucked out. The twins loved the music--there were multiple choirs, a bell choir, and a small brass ensemble. Caroline stayed in the sanctuary for the entire service. Caden decided he would prefer to enjoy the sermon with Mommy in the lobby.

After church, we headed to the Eaker house for Easter dinner. We've been eating Easter and Thanksgiving dinner with them for as long as I remember. At our Easter dinner last year, we announced that we were having twins. This year, not only were our twins here but James and Stephanie had a little one month old boy named Samuel (Sam)! Sadly, I did not get a picture of little Sam (I can't believe our kids were every that small) so you'll have to take my word when I say he was cute.

However, I did get some pics of my little ones. Here is Grandma holding big Caden showing off his bunny ears and tie.Not to be outdone, Caroline also put on her bunny ears. I'm pretty sure Aunt Angela thought she was cute.After dinner, the four of us drove back to Austin. (Angela did threaten to keep one of the twins.) The kids slept the entire way home. We were worried they wouldn't sleep at all after a four hour nap in the car so we kept them up for an hour or two after getting home. Thankfully, they both slept all the way through the night...Ahhhh, it's good to be home.

We had a very nice first Easter with the twins. I'm already looking forward to next year when we will have our first Easter Egg hunt.

Six Month Birthday Extravaganza

On March 26th, we celebrated Caden and Caroline's half birthday. We had big plans. First, we were going to put party hats on them. Then, we were going to feed them rice cereal. And to finish off the celebration, the grownups were going to have cake. See, big plans. We really know how to live it up. :)

Amy's parents came to watch the kids first "solid" food. The twins had rice cereal that was one part rice cereal and four parts milk. I don't think it was any more solid than what they get from a bottle but we did feed them with a spoon. Amy fed Caroline while I fed Caden. I'm not sure either kid ate any but they did keep it in their mouth for a short while before transferring it to their chin and bib. We'll get there eventually.

This was also the first time the kids drank water from a sippy cup. Caden seemed to get it a little better than Caroline. He would tilt his head way back and bite the cup.

Here are the twinkies preparing. I think they liked the attention of all of us staring at them.
Here is Caden getting pumped up for his rice cereal. You can tell by his face that he is very excited.Just look how much Caroline loves her first solid food.
Caden has a little goatee after having a few spoon fulls.We survived!!!After the kids had their cereal, the adults had some cupcakes Amy made in the twins honor. At their one year birthday, I bet we let the twins actually have some cake!
Time sure is flying by. I can't believe Caden and Caroline have been with us for more than six months. They are the best little babies.