1st Haircuts!

Yesterday, Colton and Nora had their 1st haircuts. Colton was long overdue for his. The hair around his ears came to the bottom of his ears. I took them to the Warren County Career Center's Salon. Andy's cousin, Ashley, is going to school there and cuts my hair. They only charged me $1 for each of them. I only had an appointment scheduled for Colton, but we decided to go ahead and cut Nora's too. Her bangs we getting long and didn't want to stay out of her eyes.

Colton enjoyed sitting in the big chair while I got my cape on.

He started out sitting very well, but that didn't last long.

He was too busy trying to watch everything Ashley was trying to do and didn't like when she messed around with his ears.

But we got it done....(I ended up having to give him the camera case to chew on and play with.)

Colton, with his new haircut, and Ashley

Doesn't he look so much older?!

Nora was pretty easy, except that she wanted to keep bouncing on my leg (she was getting excited).

I ended up having to stand up and holder to keep her from bouncing as much.

Obviously, she still moved around. She was loving all the attention!

She ended up taking the comb from Ashley to chew on. She refused to give it up! Now she is looking like a big girl!

10 months already!

Well, the munchkins are 10 months already! I've already started planning their 1st birthday party. It will be here before we know it! So much has changed in the last month and it has been crazy! We spent a long Valentine's weekend in our favorite cabin in the Smokey's with my mom and dad, Corrine and Adam, Kyle and Lauren, and Matt. It was great! Andy rigged up the doorway bouncers for Nora and Colton. It was quite entertaining watching him do it. Here is a picture of how he had to "hang" them up.

Nora and Colton loved that they could bounce and swing. They also loved the new pool house! They got to swim and splash and play in their new pool toys we bought them and falling asleep in the old ones.

We have learned new tricks now too! Nora does "So Big" and claps and occasionally sounds like she is trying to mimic "Yea!". She has been saying "Mama" for a while and has just started saying "Dada". She is also starting to wave, with both hands at once. She has also FINALLY cut two of her bottom teeth! She still has not mastered rolling from her stomach to her back, but is getting close. She will get on her hands and knees on occasion.

Colton has been saying "Dada" for a while. He gives Andy "high fives". He, too, has finally cut at least one tooth (he won't let us look, but you can hear and feel it hit on silverware). He is "crawling" backwards and, just the other day, figured out how to go forward! He hasn't mastered it yet, but it is only a matter of time. He also just started sitting himself up! I walked away for a moment this morning while he was on his stomach and came back to him sitting up in a completely different location! Lord help me! He will be into everything before I know it!

9 months!

Believe it or not, Nora and Colton are 9 month already! Where does the time go?! Thursday they had their 9 month check up. Colton is 28 3/4 inches long and 18lb 13oz. Nora is 29 1/4 inches and 20lb 15oz. They are both doing great! Colton is trying to start crawling. He gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Nora is standing by herself by holding on to something or leaning against something. They will be running all over the house before I know it!

The house is slowly coming along. Our progress got derailed by illness and a water pipe bursting. Andy and I both had sinus infections and bronchitis. It hit us like a vengeance and hasn't let go yet. Little by little we are getting things unpacked and moved over from the other house. Speaking of which, we have a tenant now! Woo Hoo! I believe they are moving in next week.

Thanks to all of our family and friends who have been helping us the past few weeks. We really appreciate it!

We've moved!

It's been a long process, but we have finally moved! We still have some things to move from the old place, but we are living at our new home now. The carpet has been installed in our rec room, so we can move the furniture over for that room and really, all the remaining items. Our old neighbor and his wife were both laid off (and just had a baby on Dec. 16th), so he has been painting for us. It has been nice to get almost everything painted, most before we moved in.

Andy and I are both sick now and I am hoping the munchkins don't get it. We both have sinus infections and bronchitis. On top of that, I have a ganglion cyst in my left wrist. It has been giving me some pain, but I think it has gotten a little smaller. Hopefully it continues to shrink. If it doesn't (or it starts causing me more problems), I have to go see a hand surgeon and have it removed. That should make caring for 2 babies easy!

Speaking of which, Nora and Colton are now 9 months old! Wow how the time flies! They are settling in nicely in the new house and have adjusted well to the move. They have a lot more rooms to play in now! Last week, Nora started playing "So Big"! She is so cute doing it. Colton is now sitting up much better and they both love sitting on the floor with our big stuffed teddy bear or dog behind them. Lord help me, I don't think it is going to be long before Colton figures our this crawling thing! He gets his legs up under him now and occasionally gets himself going backwards. Nora has gotten her knees up under her a few times too. They will be really mobile before I know it! I guess I better invest in baby gates soon!

If I have your email, check it for our new address!

Erin

Moving...slowly

Progress is slow on getting the house ready to move in. The munchkins make it much more difficult to get things done. All of the holiday travel and gatherings have taken their toll on them combined with their teething and going to the new house. Today we are staying home all day and they are having a "jammie day" and staying in their pjs all day. Their schedules are so off too. Hopefully having a "normal" day will help them. Tomorrow we are going to Cincy to my Mom and Dad's to get my "new" used vacuum (we find a really nice one that was traded in on a new vacuum and was being cleaned up and hose replaced, etc. for my Christmas present from my parents) and then Mom is coming back with me to the new house to work. Hopefully we can get the kitchen washed down so I can start bringing some kitchen items over. We've been shopping for appliances and are hoping mom can watch the munchkins for a little while so we can run to a couple stores to hopefully buy them. We need a stove, fridge, and microwave.

We met our neighbors on Saturday. They are really nice. They even brought us a care package as a welcome to the neighborhood! Here's the kicker...Apparently we are moving into twin central! Our neighbors have 28 year old identical twin boys, the family across the street is expecting twins via surrogate (her sister) any day now, and one street over is a family with twins. We found that humorous.

We are at the weather's mercy as to when we will move. Unfortunately, at this time of year, you have to be. We are hoping to have the kids' room and our room painted before we move. We were also wanting the rec room painted, but we have decided that carpet needs replaced, so we aren't in as big of a rush to paint it because we won't be putting furniture in there yet. So far, the kids' room is spackled and the ceiling painted and our room has the ceiling painted and the chair rail is pulled down. DH is going over after work and is hoping to have the kids' room primed and our room spackled. Tomorrow, we can hopefully get our room primed and the kids' room painted and the kitchen wiped down. Andy gets off of work at 1 and then is headed to the house and mom, the kids, and I should be their by 2 or 3, so hopefully we can get alot accomplished. If the munchkins cooperate, I'm hoping to get some of the stuff boxed up here. We will see!

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Erin

FINALLY!

So much for my goal of posting every week to two weeks! I really didn't have much to report and once I did, it has been chaotic! Our big news.....we FINALLY closed on our new house! We closed on Dec. 23rd and got immediate possession. We will have lots of space for our two little munchkins and us. Our new home is about 4 miles from where we live now. It is a two story, 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath. The only thing that it does not have that we were hoping our next house would have is a basement, but the large rec room made up for it. Andy is working on the house as we speak, and I will head over with the munchkins once they wake up from their nap. Poor little things are used to being run around so much. Between the holidays and preparing for the move, they aren't getting very much home time or any "normal" days. Hopefully on Monday we can just stay put. We are hoping to have the bedrooms painted and get our big move done next weekend (the 3rd/4th) or the weekend after (10th/11th). I'm a little overwhelmed with how much we need to get done and packing up our house and moving with two little ones, but I am looking forward to settling into our new home!

On the munchkin front...Nora can now sit up on her own for a decent length of time! Colton is not quite there yet, but we bought them new chairs to sit in (they are booster seats that can attach to a kitchen chair and used in place of a highchair) and that seems to be helping him to strengthen his core. They love to sit and play in their new chairs now. Nora tried to sit up in her rocker more than she already was and was close to flipping forward in it. I definitely need to keep a closer eye on her when she is in it now. Colton is rolling all over the place now. He still has not grasped the concept that once he rolls into something (or someone) he can't go any farther and needs to go the other way. He gets so mad. Nora just rolls from her back to belly and hasn't gotten from her belly to her back yet, but she is getting so close! They are both desperately trying to cut their two front teeth threw. We are ready for them to also! We could use a night of uninterrupted sleep again.

Time to get some stuff packed up and head to the new house! We will keep you posted on the move, the best we can!

Welcome to Munchkinville!

I was inspired by Amy and Tom and Erin to create a blog to keep everyone up-to-date as to what is going on in our lives. I hope it will make it easier to stay in touch. My goal, and we will see if it works out, is to post at least once a week. The great thing about the blog is that I can also share pictures with all of you! I've enjoyed being able to share photos and keep in touch with some of you through myspace and facebook and that has made me want to be able to be able to reach more of you. Hopefully "Adventures in Munchkinville" helps me achieve that! Lord knows it is hard to talk to everyone with two munchkins, but I wouldn't change a thing! So, with that said, Welcome to Munchkinville! Since our life is always an adventure, I found it fitting to name our blog "Adventures in Munchkinville". I have had an online journal since Andy and I started trying to have a baby, but only members are able to view it. It was, and is, a great site (dailystrength.org) that offers support groups for almost anything you can think of (infertility, pregnancy, twins, cancer, bereavement, diabetes...), but I wanted to be able to share with all of the important people in our lives, so here we are.



The munchkins are growing like weeds. It seems like they are learning something new every day! Colton is now rolling, rolling, rolling. He's finally mastered rolling from both his back to stomach and his stomach to his back. Unfortunately, he has not realized that when he rolls into a piece of furniture, or his sister, he can't go any farther and needs to go the other direction. He gets so mad. It's comical. Nora has rolled over twice, but only for her daddy. I have yet to see it.



They are both cutting teeth. Andy and I are hoping they cut through soon. We can tell they are bothering them more because we wake up in the night to one or both of them crying, often in their sleep, because they are uncomfortable. Some nights it is once every hour. We are ready to sleep through the night again!



As some of you have heard, Andy and I put an offer in on a house and it was excepted. It will give us a lot of much needed space. We will have more room to hopefully organize our lives and hopefully keep it all clean (and Mom, I can hear you laughing). We are still trying to finalize everything and once we have dotted all the i's and crossed all of the t's, I will let you all know our new address. That being said, we will be renting our side of the double out. If you know anyone who is looking for a place to live, please let them know about it!



I hope you will enjoy reading what is going on in our lives!



Erin