2 New Teeth!

Kate is starting to get 2 new teeth....this will make #3 and #4 for her. One tooth has broken the surface but the other one is wrecking havoc and causing lots of pain and swelling. Kate likes to scream about it. She can go from sweet and cuddly to a screaming heathen in 2 seconds. It makes life interesting!



Jill still has no teeth...and no signs (swelling) of new teeth either. Poor thing. Is there such a thing as baby dentures? Jill likes to sympathize with Kate and let her know that she will fuss with her.



I also attached a picture of Jill sleeping with her baby doll. Grandma Sherry gave the girls soft babies for Christmas. They love to hold them when they sleep during the day. It is really sweet to catch them inspecting every inch of the baby and then putting her in a "sleeper hold" for a little nap.

We are BIG GIRLS now!

I decided to purchase a tub mat and see if the girls were ready to take baths together. Little did I know, huh?!



Not only do they love baths together, but they love splashing and playing. As you can see, Jill is ALL SMILES. Now if I can only figure out how to dry them off, diaper, lotion, and dress them in a timely manner before they get cold. Momma needs some work!

Happy Easter!

Here are my sweet bunnies!

Hmmmm Biter Biscuits

Well, this week hasn't been terribly exciting. Jill is still army crawling everywhere. Kate loves to roll around in the nursery. Kate has even started to crawl around in her crib (like a caged animal) when she gets bored. I had to lower the mattress in their cribs when I caught Jill on her knees holding on to the rails.

A month ago I removed the bumper pads and they had a serious problem sleeping. They like to look around, talk, squeal, and "one up" each other. "See I can crawl." "Oh yeah, I can squeal and get on my knees to look at you." So after several sleepless naps, I gave in and the bumper pads went back in the cribs. It somewhat obstructs their views from each other...unless your name is Jill. She likes to pull down the bumper pads, untie them, chew on the ribbon, and try to sneak a peak at her sister. I know that in the next month or so I will have to take them out completely. I am preparing myself mentally.

I try to get the girls out of the house at least twice a week. It is difficult with one baby, now imagine two. My mom used to say, "It takes an act of Congress to get you girls out of the house!" Unfortunately, I now know EXACTLY what she means. Just as we are about to go out the door and the girls are in their car seats, one of them usually poops. It never fails. So out she goes, get a new diaper, and back in the seat. Yesterday we went to the grocery store and Kate sat in the cart all by herself like a big girl. Jill was strapped to me in the Bjorn carrier. I am sure we were a sight to see. I am not sure if we will do that again because pushing them in the stroller and pulling a cart behind is easier for me. That way my hands are free to sift through coupons, replace pacifiers, and inspect ingredients to everything that enters the cart. Yes, I am a label reader. Especially now that I am feeding babies. Have you seen some of the ingredients in baby food??! Scary is all I have to say.

As a mother of twins, going anywhere is a spectacle. People stare into the stroller as if 8 clowns are going to crawl out of the buggy and start juggling. I stand there waiting for the big top music to play. We get all sorts of comments, most of them nice. We have had a few comments that left me seething, but people are people and I can't change their miserable outlook on life. I usually answer back with, "God has blessed me with 2 babies for a reason and we adore them." What irritates me the most is when people make comments about using fertility treatments and having multiples. First of all Mr. or Mrs. Stranger, it is NONE of your business if we used fertility (we didn't). Second of all, I have MANY friends that have used fertility and my heart and prayers are with them. My heart breaks with theirs every time a negative test comes back, and when a positive one is heard, we rejoice. Simple as that. I understand the stress of trying to get pregnant and the sadness when you aren't. I suppose people just feel the need to express their opinions whether or not I agree with them. Ok, I am off my soap box now.

This week we tried biter biscuits and little graduate finger food stars that "melt in your mouth". If you know me, you know that I get anxious when there is a mess. With babies, you have to put your crazy cleaning aside and let them be babies. Easier said than done! Both of the girls LOVED the biscuits. In fact they loved them so much they wore them...in the hair, under the nails, on the clothes, etc. They weren't real sure what to do with the stars. Jill collected a few wet ones in her hands and proceeded to squish them and smear them around. Fun Fun Fun!

Some funny points of the week! Both of them have started wrinkling their nose and "snort laugh". That really is the only way to describe it. It is adorable, and not just because they are my kids, but it really is funny. We are getting a video camera soon so I will capture it and post a short video.

7 Months

Well, I have almost caught up on my blogging. At 7 months the girls have really developed their personalities. Kate is very independent. She doesn't really like to be held much and will let you know by pushing away from you. Jill has broken out of her quiet shell and LOVES to be held and loved on. Instead of cooing she has decided to communicate by way of screaming. It's not a fussy scream, but a loud high-pitched, ear drum piercing squeal. We will definitely have to chat about using her "inside" and "outside" voice when she gets older.

I got real brave and decided to make my own baby food. The first trial was carrots. After 2 hours in the oven steaming at 425 degrees I embarked on my new baby food making skills. I then proceeded to puree the carrots and feed them to the girls. Lets just say that apparently 2 hours wasn't long enough because Jill wouldn't have anything to do with the new texture. She immediately pushed anything out with her tongue. Kate just gave me this look that said, "What the hel*, are you kidding me?" I got no "hmmmmm's" that day. Into the trash went all the carrots I spent 2 hours on. Next time I am going to boil them in low sodium chicken stock. Perhaps that will do the trick to get them as soft as they need to be. My second trial, I decided to mash an avocado. Kate LOVED it. Jill used her fingers to dig every piece of green yuck out of her mouth. She looked as if she would choke on this green mush if she tried to swallow. At that point I decided that instead of torturing my children, I would stick to soft fruits such as banana's to puree. They love the banana's! I had read on one of my twin mom boards that you can mix avocado and banana. Well, let's just say that Round 2 of the avocado went over very WELL! Jill LOVED it. I tried it and it tasted like bananacado. Hey, whatever works, right?!

Both of the girls are VERY close to crawling. Jill gets down on her belly and army crawls everywhere. She hasn't figured out that she can go much further if she uses her arms and legs to crawl. Don't tell her, I am not ready for crawling babies! Kate gets up on all fours, rocks back and fourth and then crawls backwards. She backs into furniture and then gets "all fussed out" because she is stuck. She has figured out that if she needs to go forward she will drop to her stomach and roll towards her destination. She is VERY busy when she is on the floor. So many toys to play with, and good Lord we love to push the shiny buttons on the dvd player and the surround sound.

They have started to get into everything. Nothing is sacred in their path. One day I put them on the floor and went into the kitchen to make some tea. Now before anyone starts with "you left your babies unattended, gasp!" let me just say that our living room and kitchen are attached and open to each other so I can see what they are into. Plus Bailey was babysitting :) . I walked into the living room and apparently the girls had been into their diaper basket digging around. Each of them had a handful of q-tips and were chewing on them. They stuck out from their little fingers like daggers ready to poke an eye out. Big no-no.

Teething...where do I begin? Kate now has 2 new shiny white bottom teeth. She likes to test them out and chew on everything. Jill still has yet to get any teeth. Every day I check her gums and still nothing. She drools like crazy and chews on anything and everything. One of their favorite things to chew on are the foam bathtub letters. Apparently those are great fun and as long as it soothes them for a few minutes, I am game! Also, because of the teething we have some rough nights. Like last night...Kate woke up at midnight, 2 am, 4 am, and then again at 6 am fussing. Luckily I was able to get her back down rather quickly. Perhaps I should try the pacifier method on me to get back to sleep easily?!

We have been to 2 classes recently. I took the girls to a baby sign language class and have been signing to them. I sign things like, hungry, thirsty, more, mommy, daddy, play, dog, stop, no, love, etc. I am hoping that this will help with their communication when they are a little older. We also went to a baby massage class. I decided ahead of time to massage Kate because Jill has a bad dry skin rash and I felt that putting oil on it might irritate it. She has sensitive skin like me. Jill played in her bumbo while I massaged Kate. Let's just say that Kate is a BIG HAM. She was real still and looked like she was in heaven. The other mothers were laughing at her and her facial expressions. She enjoyed the rub down.

As we were about to leave, the PAT (parents as teachers) Educator mentioned that the girls had beautiful blue eyes and light hair, while I have brown eyes and brown hair. I said, "Yeah, I just carried them for 8 months and that was it." It is funny how genetics work. Jason and I were praying for blue eyes. We got that and we got the strawberry blond hair too. We keep saying, "man those Shaw genes sure are strong." Perhaps as they get older they will have some resemblance to me?! Maybe?!

Bath time has become more enjoyable for the girls. They love to talk during their bath. Hey who doesn't like to sing in the shower?! If you haven't noticed already Kate's hair likes to stand on end. She has very fluffy hair. Jill's hair lays flat on her head. One day after their bath, I decided to blow dry their hair since it was a little chilly in the house. Well, Kate's hair turned out exactly like it always is - fluffy. Jill's hair was something else. I posted a picture below!

Our Furry Family

After Jason and I got married we decided to become parents - parents of the furry kind. We knew that we wanted kids eventually, but we needed to make sure that we were able to take care of them. So why not start with animals?





While on a trip to Dallas we purchased Murphy from a local Yorkie breeder. Now Murphy is by no means a show dog, but don't tell him that cause he may stop prancing around the house. We had Murphy for 2 months when Jason and I decided that he needed a playmate. We worked all day and leaving Murphy by himself was not good on his psyche. He was starting to become destructive with everything. So we decided to get a dachshund. Enter Bailey. He is our black and chocolate dapple dachshund. He owns everything and just allows us to live with him. He is our chief protector and really a doberman trapped in a small wiener body. He has the "little man" complex and don't tell him he is small...he doesn't know that. And we just *thought* Murphy was destructive?! That silly wienie chewed through 3 baby gates one day to escape downstairs. Three hard plastic baby gates! I stumped him and rained on his parade when I went and purchased metal baby gates. There is not a toy that he cannot destroy. It is his mission in life to seek out the squeakers and destroy them all. Heck, he even tears up dog ropes. Yeah the ones with the TIGHT knots on the ends. There is no toy he can't destroy.


We were very concerned about having children after our dogs were our "children" for several years. We feared that the wienie would dislike them and snap at them. I thought Murphy would become real protective of his space and go into a depressive funk. Albeit we did have an adjustment period where the dogs moped around the house and peed on everything (thank God it was a rent house). After having the carpets professionally cleaned they straightened up and began to act normal. By this time they knew we were not going to return the 2 "new puppies" and decided to adopt them into the pack.


Bailey has become very protective of the girls. It doesn't matter who you are, if your speech is harsh or if you make fast, threatening movements around the girls, that dachshund will be all over you like white on rice. I was tickling Kate one day and Bailey mistook it as I was hurting her. Well, he tried to nip me and almost succeeded. He is their chief protector, head babysitter, and self-appointed face cleaner. He doesn't care if the girls pull on his ears or pat his head hard...it's all love to him. You will always find him near the girls. He watches over them and makes sure they stay out of trouble. Like I said, he is head babysitter around here! I was watching him nose his knot ball around the living room and he pushed it right up to Jill. I suppose he was offering her a chance to toss it to him or perhaps he was just in a sharing mood.

Murphy likes to sniff the girls and occassionally sneak in a lick. He doesn't mind the girls touching him but he would rather them not pull his hair. He is very sensitive about his long fur and doesn't want to be missing patches of hair compliments of Kate's poke, prod, and pull techniques. He is a bit of a princess...err prince. He is high maintenance and knows it. He will get revenge on you if you scold him. He recently ran off with Jill's baby doll. I scolded him and put him in his kennel. Later that night, I found two lovely turds on my side of the master closet. He had his revenge. His favorite spot in the girls room is under Kate's crib. He feels safe under there and the girls haven't figured out a way to get under there yet. He likes to be in the background of action. He watches the girls from the safety of the recliner.

I fear that my girls first words are going to be "no lick Bailey" or "bad dog". Not funny....

3 - 6 Months

Ahhh, what can I say. They finally started sleeping through the night and I started sleeping through the night. It's a wonderful thing! This time period brought so many new things.

Pictured above is Grandma Sherry with Jill. Dovie, the girls, and Eli. Jason and Kate. Jason's dad John giving Kate some love.

We traveled to Dallas for Thanksgiving and spent time with Jason's family. It was the first time Great Grandma Dovie got to see the girls and Eli all in the same room. It was also the first time Jason's father John got to see the girls. As he would say, "he's all tickled pink about them."

Pictured above is Grandpa Glenn with Jill. My sister Glenda and Kate.

A few weeks after Thanksgiving I traveled to Austin to visit my family and have an early Christmas. We spent lots of time eating and catching up with each other. It was great to introduce the girls to all of their cousins: Taylor, Camden, Shellby, Lilly, Avery, Ryland, and Spencer. One of the funniest stories of the weekend came from Spencer (almost 5). He and his older brother Ryland were watching the girls while I fixed their bottles. I hollared, "Are the girls doing ok?" Spencer hollared back, "Yeah, one is still breathing." See Jill has Stryder which is the c-rings in the esophagus are floppy and not full of cartilage yet. So when she breathes sometimes it sounds raspy or like she is congested. He was just letting me know that she was still breathing. Too funny!

After all of the traveling we did to Austin and Dallas during the holidays, we decided to stay home for Christmas. When I was a child, the whole family would sit around the tree or fire and read "The Night Before Christmas". I was able to find the exact book (illustrated by Grandma Moses) on e-bay so we can pass this tradition on to our new family. Christmas was quiet and nice. It was great to relax with Jason and the girls.

The girls also got their first taste of rice cereal. As usual, Kate eats like a champ and loves cereal. Jill needed some convincing. It took her a week or so to get the hang of not pushing out the cereal with her tongue. When I was teaching them to eat with a spoon I would close my mouth and go "hmmmmm". Now Jill has picked this up and everytime she eats she goes, "Hmmmm" as if she is really enjoying what she is eating. "Hmmm momma these are the best carrots ever!"

Along with all the milestones the girls began to recognize each other. I know it sounds odd, but when they were little it was almost as if they had no clue another baby existed. During floor time they would inspect each other's faces and talk to each other. Now let's be honest, Jill isn't real thrilled with Kate's inspections. Kate likes to poke, prod, and pull. Jill usually hollars at Kate and Kate just ignores her. Twins, let the arguing begin....

The girls have also started to really enjoy playing. Some of their favorite things are the exersaucer, the johnny jump up, and their bumbos. They especially love the johnny jump up. They also really enjoy tummy time and have started rolling. They are captivated when you read to them. It doesn't matter whether you are reading the newspaper or Brown Bear, Brown Bear. It's all the same and they love it.

Towards the end of 6 months Kate started teething. The screaming, drooling, running a small fever kind of teething. It has been creating havoc with our sleep schedule. Unfortunately, the long sleepy nights have ended. Kate has been waking up several times a night and fussing. I am hoping that the tooth fairy arrives soon and lets us get back on schedule. Jill has just been drooling and chewing on everything. There isn't anything she won't put in her mouth. I caught her the other day trying to chew on Bailey's tail. As soon as she put it in her mouth she made the most horrendous face as if to say, "Well, hairy dog tail isn't what I thought it was." She keeps trying every now and then and it still tastes like hairy dog tail.