Xmas Card 2012

The making of Xmas card 2012

A few weeks ago when my parents were in town we decided it would be fun to get some pics of the girls and cousin Grayson in cute holiday outfits. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get a pic for the Plothow Xmas card. : ) My mom had found a Santa suit for Grayson and I found a couple of elf outfits for the girls. It was quite a fiasco, to say the least. Wrangling three tiny babies with floppy heads into position and actually getting a decent picture is just about impossible.

This is how a lot of our pictures turned out... Grayson sleeping and me fixing the girls (their hats were way too big and they kept toppling over).

I tried to get a picture of just the girls to use for a Xmas card. First of all, I take the worst pictures of the girls. Secondly, Avery was so over the whole elf costume.

BIG FAIL!!!

On a whim (and since my parents were only in town for one more day), we decided to go to Sears and have them take a few pictures for us. They said they don't normally take pictures of babies under 3 months, but they'd do it anyway. They also didn't have a way for all 3 babies to sit together in the settings. But, we decided to give it a shot anyway. The babies were either crying or asleep, no in between really. So, we settled for sleeping baby pictures. I was able to use a couple of the pictures for our Christmas card, so it wasn't a complete fail.

I love the "snowy" background

Morgan

Avery

Of all the pictures we had, I did not have a good picture of the girls together. I thought I would give it a try at home to see if I could get a good picture with both girls and maybe even catch a smile or two. I know... very ambitious. Well, I dressed them in these cute little holiday outfits I bought a few weeks ago and started snapping pics. Of course, Morgan was sound asleep. Like dead to the world asleep. That made getting smiles out of her a little more difficult. Needless to say, I did not get a picture of them together with them both smiling.

A few pics of Avery...

I have no idea what this face is!

Catch me mom... I'm falling

A smile!

And... we're done!

A few pics of Morgan... she was really tired!

Awake and a little smile!

I managed to get one of them together that was usable.

Next year, we're having a professional take the pictures!

A few more pics

Morgan has her daddy's eyelashes

Happy Avery
(probably happy because her hair started growing back and she no longer looks like a little old man!)

Morgan is happy!

Avery is NOT happy!

What?!?

Tummy time fail! (Avery)

Never both looking at the camera at the same time!

Um... Avery, we're taking pictures here - pay attention

Apparently, something was really funny

Tummy time
But what you don't see is...

Morgan tolerates tummy time

Avery HATES it!

2 months already!

We took the girls for their 2 month check-up on December 5th. Avery is still a little peanut, but Morgan is getting to be quite the little chunk! They are still only a half inch different in length but now over a pound different in size, which feels like a lot when you are holding them.

It has been fun watching their personalities develop. They are so different! We are very lucky at how good of babies they are. It is a ton of work having two babies. I don't think I could have prepared myself for all of this, but I wouldn't change it for the world! Anytime it gets a little overwhelming, one of them flashes a cute smile at me or looks at me with their big eyes and I just melt!

Stats:

Avery Leigh
Weight: 9 lbs 9 oz (10th percentile)
Length: 21 1/2 inches long (15th percentile)
Head: 38.3 cm (50th percentile)
What she's up to these days: lots of smiling and cooing, has perfected the "sad bottom lip" look, has a facial expression for every one of her many moods, loves to put her hands on her head/face and in her eyes while sleeping and eating, still rolls up into a ball when sleeping and cuddling, hates tummy time, knows what she wants and does NOT want and will let you know, has a cry that goes from quiet to screech in less than a second, I sometimes refer to her as "our little diva"

Morgan Jo
Weight: 10 lbs 11 oz (40th percentile)
Length: 22 inches long (25th percentile)
Head: 38.3 cm (50th percentile)
What she's up to these days: lots of smiling, starting to coo more, sleeps great (she should give her sis some pointers on that one!), she is definitely her daddy's little girl, snores like her daddy, breathes kind of raspy like a smoker (don't worry - doc said she is ok), very relaxed baby, really only gets upset when hungry or tired, loves to listen to music and particularly this night light doll from my aunt (I have the order of the songs it plays memorized we play it so much), makes some funny owl hooting noises while she sleeps, I sometimes to refer to her as "little Matt"

Girls weekend

The first weekend in December, a couple of my friends from high school came for a visit. We still get together once a year and this year we met up in Chicago. We caught up, they got to meet the girls and we attempted to go to the Christmas Market in Chicago (what a zoo!)

Drinking Gluhwein at the Christmas Market

The Christmas market was packed probably because it was such a warm day. We managed to get our Gluhwein and cute little souvenir boot and get out of the mess. We had dinner Saturday night at Dos Diablos. We realized times have changed when after a couple of pitchers of margaritas we were all ready to hit the sack... and it was about 10:30 pm. Ha! I remember when that used to be the time the night was just starting!

No night is complete without a bull ride!

As always, it's great to get together with these girls. I'm glad we've stayed friends since high school. And it was extra nice for me to get some girl time with adults. Most of my girls' nights these days involve formula, diapers and binkies! :)