Hoping Spring is finally here!

Hi everyone!

The girls and I are getting thru the weeks of Jason traveling all the time. Hopefully it's coming to an end this week. Well...does it ever really end? They love to surprise him with stupid trips. But he has a good job that pays well... just doesn't make for very fun times when he's always gone.

Been soooo sick of winter this year...it's been lasting forever! I can't wait to hang out outside most of the time. The girls aren't walking yet, but atleast we can go sit outside and maybe find some swings to swing on. Last time it was nice out, the girls weren't exactly sitting up or anything and the most we could do was lay down on a blanket. BUT they stayed where I left them. Haha. This year should be interesting.

Well we have a lot going on this Spring. It starts with Jason's brother's wedding in Baton Rouge next weekend. This will be the girls' first trip...AND first plane ride. Hope it goes ok. Then after that we will have some weddings, their first birthday (April 20), the March of Dimes, some more weddings... a couple of those weddings may be able to be little date nights for me and Jason.

If you would like to sponsor us for the March of Dimes, please visit my page at www.marchforbabies.org/andgoody I will be walking with Jason and the girls, Danielle and Eric and Hunter, My Aunt Elaine and Uncle Mike, and my Mom and Dad. After going thru the risk of preterm labor firsthand, I've become very passionate about this organization and Danielle can definitely say the same--as she is already on medication to prevent preterm labor for baby #2. We will be pushing her in a wheelchair for the walk! Please visit my page and give a little if you can! You can help other women have healthy, full term babies!

Lots-o-smiles!

The girls are starting to recognize my old camera and like to smile at it. I think it's the red-eye-reduction lamp that fires, blasting that terribly bright red light that makes them put on a silly face. Alayna has this hilarious new squint smile that she does...I think to prepare for the flash!

Happy New Year!!!

Lots going on here. Both girls are crawling...Josslyn is getting fast! She is also pulling up onto things. I LOVE how both girls are crawling over to us and reaching up for us. So cute. Alayna said her first word...."hello!" She amazes me! Now she doesn't know to say it when someone walks in the room or anything, but she says it a lot...thanks to the many Fisher Price laugh and learn toys that they have. They have a tea pot, a purse, and also a Leap frog music table that say things like "up, down, hello, byebye, open, closed" She will almost always say hello right back to you if you say it to her. Alayna also really loves books right now. Josslyn could care less, she just wants to find something to climb on.

First Christmas continued

First Christmas

Well, I'm absolutely terrible at updating this blog. I imagine that I will be doing better now that the girls are suddenly doing all sorts of new things. I really feel that for a few months, not much was going on. The days sort of ran together, if you ask me. They are growing up so fast though.

Christmas went really well! I was thinking it would feel more like Christmas now that we had babies in the house, and even though it was a ton of fun with them...it really didn't feel any different yet. I'm hoping that happens as they get older and become more excited about it. With that being said, we didn't spend much on presents this year. The girls got some books from the dollar section at Target, a "Laugh and Learn" talking Tea set, and they each got a Laugh and Learn talking purse. I guess it was smart to save money this year. The girls went to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops way back in November during the week of Thanksgiving. Smart move on our part. We walked right up to him. The girls loved him and were able to take their time sitting with him. Alayna was very interested in the fur on his sleeves. Santa told me that the girls said they wanted some vanilla wafers and lots of love for Christmas this year. Haha. Too bad it won't be that easy in the future.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the girls and I spent a LOT of time listening to Christmas music while we played every day. They also loved this singing reindeer on a rocking horse that my friend Lindsey bought me a few years ago.

On the 20th, we celebrated Christmas with my mom n dad. WOW did the kids get a lot of stuff! It was so much fun! Sooo many clothes! Teddy bears that Grandma and Pa-Pa made for them at Build-a-bear, little doll strollers that help the girls learn to walk, all kinds of stuff! Uncle Eric, Aunt Danielle, and Hunter got the girls a Disney Princess patio set...two chairs and an umbrella table! Later in the evening, Alayna threw up her dinner and out came a piece of tape from the presents. wooops. Any GOOD party has puke involved, right?

Jason's youngest brother Neil came in town the week before Christmas (and is staying for a little while). Justin (the middle brother) is also here now too. The girls have been having a blast with all of the extra attention. Neil hadn't seen the girls since they were 2 months old (he's been living in Mexico). Justin hadn't been here since August (still living in Baton Rouge and had been traveling a lot). The girls have changed soooo much since they'd seen them last!

Well, for Christmas Eve and Day we pretty much did what we've always done, just had two babies and a LOT of extra stuff in the car. Haha. Christmas Eve afternoon was spent with Jason's dad's side of the family at Grandpa and Grandma Goodson's house in Troy. The girls got some cute toys from them as well...including this little music box toy that Alayna is obsessed with. She laughs at it, screams at it...she gets very frustrated when it's not doing what she wants it to. Christmas Eve night we spent the evening with my mom's side of the family at Aunt Elaine's house. The girls were party animals. We brought the pack n plays for them to go to sleep. Alayna finally gave in, but Josslyn screamed and screamed. She wound up staying up the entire time. Eventually we packed up around 10pm and went home.

Christmas Day, Jason's parents came by and the girls opened the presents we bought them. Nothing too interesting happened. Alayna tried to eat some more tape. Snapped some pictures and then went to get ready to go to Jason's Aunt Lisa's house to be with his mom's side of the family. Then we ended the day/evening at my parents house to hang out with my dad's side. The girls got a bunch of presents over there from my aunts and uncles and their Great Grandma Smith. Clothes, Dolls, a play mat, some toys, blocks, a little basketball hoop game, etc. I'd like to add that Alayna officially crawled on Christmas day. And I'd say that she sat herself up on her own on Christmas Eve. As for the crawling, she could kind of scoot herself to where she wanted to go, but she actually used her knees for the first time! Josslyn had started this early in December. I'm in trouble now.

That night the girls went right to sleep and we didn't even hear from them til 9am the next morning. It was crazy. They did so unbelievably well going from house to house. Never cried. Just loved being around everyone! I'd say their first Christmas was quite the success. So much fun having babies around this year. I can't wait until next year. I am looking forward to starting some of our own traditions in the next couple years! Hope you like the pics. I will add more in a separate post.

All is well...

The girls are now just a bit over 7 months old! Can't believe it. Time for another baby in the house! Haha....um...no. We are always being asked if we are going to have any more kids. Kind of early to even THINK about that. My head can't process the idea. Although the answer is pretty easy for us at this point... as most of you know we have one remaining embryo in storage. It just blows my mind to think about it. We will be giving that baby a chance, just not sure when. I sit and wonder if it's a boy or a girl, if he or she looks like Josslyn or Alayna, all kinds of things. So crazy to think that the little person created at the same date the girls were, is just sort of suspended in time. I personally wish we could just grow the baby in an aquarium. I'm a little scared about being pregnant again, even though the perinatologists said that may times women who had complications with the first pregnancy go on to have completely normal ones later. And with me, it's hard to know what complications were just because of a stressful twin pregnancy.

Anyway, the girls are doing awesome! Both can sit up on their own...still toppling over at times, but much better than even a few weeks ago. Josslyn has actually sat herself up a few times too. She is so strong. Both girls have been on their hands and knees, rocking back and forth, but don't understand how to crawl. Although Josslyn has figured out how to crawl backwards a little bit in a funny way. I'll also catch her holding herself up on her hands and her tippy toes, with her butt high in the air. :-)

Baby food is going pretty well. They have eaten sweet potatoes, avocados, squash, peas, green beans, and applesauce. Half of the things I have prepared myself. Just made into purees and froze servings in ice cube trays. It's been easy. It's a lot of work to feed the girls and it's quite messy. With one baby you can control their hands from going into their mouths and smearing it all over themselves. With two, you turn away from one and she has it all over by the time you get back to her. I suppose I could feed them separately, but there's no time for that!

I'm gonna cut this short for now, even though I have much more to write about. I'll leave you with some pictures.

Our Babies are 6 Months Old!!!

Well, on October 20th, the girls turned 6 months old! Hard to believe! It feels like just yesterday that I was dealing with all of the early fertility drugs, and that I woke up today with 6 month old babies. Maybe that doesn't make sense...but it's so weird. Some days I almost forget that I've been thru ALL that we've been thru--and that I actually have TWO kids! Crazy!

The girls had their 6 month checkup, and all is well with them. Josslyn is in the 7th percentile for her weight...only 13 pounds 3 oz, but the doctor isn't worried about her at all. She said it's no big deal...she was early and she's a twin. Alayna truly isn't all that big either compared to other babies that age, but she just seems so much bigger to us! She is right under 15 pounds. Basically the girls are consistently staying 1.5 pounds from eachother. They both measured to be the same height, but I really think Joss is a tiny bit taller. It's hard to measure them when they want to kick and flop around on the table. This time at the doctor they were soooo vocal. It was hilarious listening to them squeal. They are really a lot of fun these past couple of months.

Both girls are really getting close to sitting up. At least when you sit them up yourself--they can't put themselves into a sitting position. They may last for 10 seconds or so. I get really confused as to when you say they actually do it...do you wait til they are consistently doing it, or just say they did it when it happened once? I never know what to write in their baby books.

Both girls LOVE LOVE LOVE the dogs. They laugh like crazy when one of them walks by. They reach out for them and try to pull their hair. Both dogs are amazing with the girls. I surely don't leave them in a room alone with them, but am very impressed with how great they are.

And also, in the past week or two the girls have REALLY started to get upset if they see me and I walk out of the room. It's not ALL the time, but way more often than before. I think it has to do with the whole object permanence concept that they are picking up on. It's like now they know that I'm not GONE and will come back...so they are trying hard to get me to come back. I noticed the other day that when they drop a toy off of their saucer, they lean to try and look over the side to see where it went.

Well I guess that is about it for now. I'm going to try and do better with updating this thing!