Her first "graduation"

Morgan has officially graduated from wearing her helmet! They showed us the before and after pictures. Quite a difference!

They gave us the helmet and the head mold to keep. Matt said we should pull that out on her first date to embarrass her. :)

Michigan Trip

I'm finally getting caught up on the blog!

For the July 4th week, we packed up the car as full as it could get and headed to Union Pier, Michigan. You would not believe how much stuff we packed for a week away with two little girls and two adults. Geesh!

The vacation was definitely different this year than our trip to Michigan last year! Last year, we relaxed by the pool, drank daiquiris (virgin for the preggers girls), read books, and enjoyed the peace and quiet. This year, we were wrangling two little girls (and a little boy!), keeping track of toys and pacis and bottles and Puffs, going for long stroller walks and enjoying the not-so-quiet kiddos playing. What a difference a year makes!

One thing that did not change from last year was the delicious food we had all week. Matt and Ross outdid themselves on the grill! Lots of tasty meats, seafood and veggies. Grandma brought some desserts and Grandpa made homemade ice cream on the 4th. My clothes were fitting a little tighter by the end of the week! :)

It was really nice to have Grandma and Grandpa along with us this year. They were a ton of help! They even gave us a break from the kids one night and we went out to dinner at Tabor Hill Winery. Good food and wine!

The weather could have been better, but we still got a little pool time in with the kids. The girls loved the water and splashed around like it was one big bathtub. I got a rather large kiddie pool thinking all three kids would be in it at the same time. I'm pretty sure that did not happen once. But props to Matt for getting that thing all set up - not an easy task!

Our little fishies

Splish splash

Brett made it back from Luxembourg the week we were in Michigan, so he and Sandi came to hang out for a few days at the end of the week. Next year, they will have a little one to chase after! Yikes! What better way to get him ready than by handing him two crying babies!

Uncle Brett is scary!

It was a nice week with the fam! :) Check out our Shutterfly site for more pics.

Fun with cousin Grayson!

Matt has been gone most of the week on a golf trip. It's the longest he's been away from the kiddos and that I've been left alone with them. The girls and I have been keeping busy with visits from Aunt Sandi, Uncle Brett, Aunt Erin and cousin Grayson.

Cousins!

We went on a playdate to the park today with Grayson to enjoy the (slightly) cooler weather.

He still hates grass!

Woodchuck

Morgan now has EIGHT teeth! With all that teething, she's been chewing on everything, including her crib! There are bites all the way down her crib railing. We'll come into the girls' room to find her with paint all around her mouth. Not good. I found a crib rail cover... let's hope it helps. Poor thing!

Fun in cousin Grayson's courtyard

Splashing in the fountain

The girls and I with Grandma

Getting used to the grass

Smile!

Baptized

On Father's Day, Grayson was baptized at St. Andrews. He was all smiles and didn't cry a bit when the priest poured the water on his head. Barry and I were the godparents. We celebrated afterwards with lots of tasty food at L Woods.

Home stretch

Morgan is in the home stretch with her helmet-wearing. Yay!

We have one more appointment in 2 weeks where they take the exit pictures and do the final adjustment. If she still fits in the helmet at that appointment, they said we can let her wear it for an additional 2 weeks (if we want).

Every appointment they compare her head now to what it was using a mold they took at the beginning. It's nice to be able to see the difference. Things we didn't notice about her before are very apparent now. Like where her ears are placed on her head and the symmetry of her features.

Once that helmet is off, she's going to have to get used to falling and rolling around without it. When it's off now, sometimes she'll smack into the closet door or fall hard on the ground and not realize that it's going to hurt. I bet Avery will be sad to see the helmet go, too. Grabbing that thing has been such a great way to antagonize her sister!

Baby "D" is a ---

BOY!!!

Sandi and Brett had a gender reveal party this past Sunday. We all got a cupcake and bit into some very blue cake! Baby Boy "D" is due to arrive sometime around October 20th! We all are looking forward to meeting him!

Yes, I took a picture of myself 

Missing one revealing ultrasound pic

Girl was the slight favorite

The grandmas take a bite...

It's blue!

It's a boy!

Nine

Avery and Morgan are nine months old... they have officially been on the outside longer than they were on the inside! A little update on the kiddos -

Getting taller and chunkier every day!
We had a nine month check-up and got updated stats on the girls. Morgan weighs 19 lbs 13 oz and is 28 inches tall. Avery weighs 19 lbs 7 oz and is also 28 inches tall. I think Avery was squirming a little when her height was measured because she seems a little shorter than Morgan. Their weight is around the 75-80th percentiles and their height is around the 60th percentile. Both girls have big heads, around the 90th percentile.

Wait... you're 9 months old? I'm 9 months old, too!

Non-stop teething!

Morgan has six teeth already and two more about to break through. She has been teething like crazy the last few weeks! Unfortunately, the two that have not broke through yet are the two top middle front teeth. Hopefully, they will come in soon, so she doesn't look like a little vampire baby anymore. She has been grinding her top and bottom teeth together lately, which I hate - it's like nails on a chalkboard! Avery has three teeth now, two on the bottom and one on the top that just broke through.

Look out, they're crawling!
Both girls are crawling and can get anywhere they want to go. Morgan has the proper form for crawling on hands and knees. Avery has a modified crawl where she's on one knee and uses her foot to push off. The gates (aka "the pen") are coming in very handy these days.

Keep it steady!

The girls are climbing up on anything they can - us, the gates, furniture, laundry baskets, each other, etc. They are both good at standing and can move around a little while upright. Avery has even stood unassisted for a few seconds. She loves to "practice" walking with us holding her hands. I predict she will be walking before her sister. It's fun to watch them figure out these new skills, because they get so excited and proud of themselves. :)

Get in my belly!
The girls are great eaters, if you couldn't tell that by their chunkiness! There are not too many things they don't like. If we are eating, they want to be eating, too. We've been giving them more finger foods to practice feeding themselves. For as much solid food as they eat, they still really love their bottles.

What did you say???
Morgan is our talker. She says quite a few vowel/consonant noises. She most consistently says "da-da-da" and "eye-eye-eye" or "ya-ya-ya". There have only been a few "ma-ma"s so far. Avery is still on the raspberry blowing and grunting. She just started saying "mm-mm-mm", which I keep trying to get her to turn into "ma-ma-ma". No luck yet.

"NO"
We have been trying this word out lately without much success. The girls seem to think "NO" means "stop for a second, then try again". Even when we accompany it with a stern look. Sometimes, we get a sassy little smile back from Avery. Um, kid, this face isn't a joke.

They're quite a pair!
The girls are fun to watch interact. When we put them to bed at night, they will sit up in their cribs facing each other and "chat" back and forth. Apparently, Avery is very funny, because she gets Morgan giggling a lot. They will be going on and on one minute and the next, they are both fast asleep. They don't really play "together". It's more like when one does something, the other one wants to do it, too. Or if one picks up a certain toy, the other one wants that toy, too.

Best pic of the two of them -
So hard to get them both looking at the camera!

Love, love, love these little girls!