Valentine's Day Cards for Kids

I saw an article on CNN about this...you can buy valentine's day cards for your kids that go to provide support to children living in poverty in the United States. Not only is it a good cause - the cards are really adorable.

You can find the cards here.

Pillow Fight and More

I think the twins have been EXTRA cute lately! So - here's a few more photos.

They both fell asleep on our bed after their morning feeding. When I went in to get them after they woke up - this is what I found. The pics don't show it very well but Peytine was getting in a few licks of her own. Of course they weren't really hitting each other but the back and forth action was pretty funny.

PILLOW FIGHT!





Here are their new shirts from Auntie Kristi - notice that Elijah now has 4 teeth with another one coming in. Poor baby has been getting one tooth after another. Peytine still only has two on the bottom but is working on getting some on the top too.



A few developmental progress notes: We have been teething times two at our house since just before Thanksgiving. They got their first two teeth in succession one day apart for each baby and each tooth one week apart. Elijah has been popping out teeth one after the other ever since but Peytine so far just swells up, her cheeks get hot and red and she drools copiously - no more teeth yet. They are both sitting up on their own with minimal intervention. They are very actively rolling around on the floor and will roll to get a toy that they want to play with. They are showing signs of crawling soon and can both "walk" when you hold their little hands. They make lots of fun sounds including ma-ma-ma and da-da-da. Elijah's sounds are a little clearer than Peytines but she is catching up. Peytine waved "bye-bye" for the first time last week and has been very interested in waving at her self - having just discovered that the hand belongs to her! She is also trying very hard to hold her own bottle - Elijah would much rather lay back and have someone hold it for him. It is so fun to watch their personalities. They really adore each other too and entertain and laugh at each other on a regular basis. We also still catch them holding hands in their crib. They are growing and changing every day and bring such joy to us.

On the legal front: the next court hearing is February 9th. The official state plan is still "return home" to their biological mom - basically they have to have that on the paperwork for a certain amount of time unless the commissioner/judge decides she doesn't get any more chances. She has been showing up for the one hour visits with them every week but has not engaged in any of the other services she has been court ordered to do. We are still waiting to find out about paternity - in typical state agency fashion, the child suppport enforcement agency won't allow the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) to have the information from the paternity test without a court order. Even if the bio-Dad is identified and doesn't engage in services, the State is required to try and find any family members of his that may be interested. So - it's a wait and see game but we are hoping to know something more definitive before the end of the year. By law the state is supposed to have a permanency plan in place by the time they have been in state custody for a year which will be the middle of September. It could still be several more months after that before an adoption is final even if the plan at that time is for us to adopt them. We are of course hoping for a speedier resolution than that but are just trying to be patient for now and enjoy the babies. Patience may be difficult but enjoying them is easy!

Happy Sunday!

We took a "few" very cute photos of the babies today and just had to share!

Twins all dressed up:



Uh-Oh, Mommy caught us taking off a shoe!



Here's one each of me with my little man and little miss:




Elijah hamming it up for the camera:



Jammy time (thanks to our friends Garry & Nancy for the cute PJ's):

Auntie Kristi comes for a visit and more

Warning - this will likely be a "MEGA-POST"! Sorry it's been so long since we've posted - things have been a little busy around here. Dad/Bobpa came for a visit for a few days for a follow up with his oncologist at Virgina Mason. He had the wonderful news of a clean report and doesn't have to come back for 12 months!!!

This week we had a visit from Kristi G all the way from Sioux Falls, SD. Kristi was my maid of honor from our wedding and my "sister"...we both have 4 brothers and no sisters and ever since we worked together at the Corvallis Gazette Times (Corvallis, OR) we have claimed each other as sisters. The funny part is that people always think we are sisters anyway so it just makes it easier to answer the "is this your sister?" question with a YES!

The twins are growing and progressing by leaps and bounds. They are super funny and cute. Here is a video of the two of them in their exersaucers - Peytine apparently thinks Elijah is the funniest thing on the planet.


Bobpa and Peytine:



Elijah:


Peytine:


Auntie Kristi and the twins:


Auntie Kristi and Watson (who was VERY happy for all of the extra attention!)


Bath Time!!


New High Chairs (They LOVE them and so do we...feeding time is soooo much easier and the high chairs fold up to 7.5 inches wide for quick easy storage...happiness all around!).


Auntie Kristi left to go back home today so we were all feeling sad. To lighten the atmosphere a little Darin was playing peek-a-boo etc with the babies. Elijah was totally in to it and Peytine couldn't have been less interested. Here is a video clip of the fun:


And one last picture for good measure...Elijah was feeling VERY snuggly one afternoon:


Can you believe that January is ALMOST over already???? Yikes!!

Happy New Year

A Very Happy New Year to everyone!

Just when all of our snow had finally melted away (actually - we still had a small pile at the end of the driveway) we had another small snow storm last night and got about 5 inches! It is mostly melted away already thankfully and we are supposed to have rain for the next several days - much more normal northwest weather!

Leah and Chelsea came and spent a few days with us between Christmas and New Years. They were a FABULOUS help with the babies! Here is a photo of them busy with their other favorite pastime.



One morning we decided to feed the babies with just their diapers on in an effort to conserve on laundry....it was still a mess especially when they decided to fight over the newspaper! Here are a few pics of their first newspaper "reading".






We had a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration at Suzette's place .... unfortunately I was lame and didn't take any photos. Peytine was awake to ring in the New Year with an upset tummy and Elijah woke up with the fire works so we started off the year consoling tired, crying babies - but otherwise had a really great time with Reece and Linda, Suzette, Dave & Sheryl and all of the kiddos. We slept in on New Year's day (or at least I did - thanks Darin!) and spent a nice relaxed day hanging out with Suzette in front of the fire.

Then to top it all off - Saturday, Darin let me sleep until 10:30 AM. It was SOOOOOO wonderful!!

I went back to work today - it was actually kind of nice to be back in the groove of having a schedule again.