Family Day

Mom and Dad organized the first annual "Family Day" at Oxberry Hunting Club a few weeks ago. It was a huge success with about 50-60 people and lots of great food!  It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day - can't believe it was February!  Silas and Avery loved being outside all day (and, of course, ALL the attention from new friends:-)!

The pop-scooter!!  In a few months, they can take an actual ride with Papaw!

It has been such beautiful weather here in Jackson lately - and we've enjoyed afternoons when Bruce and I get home from work - we go outside and Silas and Avery laugh at Millie chasing the ball around!  They've really started noticing each other and talking to each other - so funny!

These are some of my favorites!  They are mesmerized with the "other" little one and have started what we call "hugging"!  Avery loves it!

Sunday, February 20th was their dedication at church.  Mom had stunning gowns made out of fabric that Mamaw Grace (my great grand-mother) picked out. The gowns (well, and Silas' shorts) were amazing and so special for the event!  Mom, Dad, Grace, Micajah, and Aunt GayGay and Uncle Bobby were there for the dedication. GayGay and Uncle Bobby were so kind to drive all the way down from Jackson, TN!  Silas and Avery did GREAT in the service - Silas talked and just "chilled" in Bruce's arms while Avery conducted calisthenics class for the whole 3,000 member congregation. Hilarious. 

We went to Mint to eat lunch after church. Silas and Avery had a long day - but were great!

We go for our 6 month checkup and shots tomorrow. Wow. 6. months.  I'll post the updated "stats" and pictures soon!

Much Better Weather

Silas and Avery are feeling MUCH better!  This week, we've been strolling, had Allison Muirhead take their pictures, listening to them laugh, and watching them roll!  They are both changing single every day ... we can't blink or else we'd miss something! Maybe this explains why Silas and Avery have been keeping us awake at night... for some reason, Silas has been waking up at 3:45 and Avery looks at us like the picture below at 2am. But how can we complain?:-)

I LOVE my big girl chair!

We got them these little chairs for Valentine's Day... they love them! I can't get over how they look like big little people:-)

"Just hand me the blapper and I'm good to go"

All pictures are starting to be blurry... they never STOP moving!

Yes, Avery has always been the "mover and shaker" of the two, but Silas has now figured it out too!  Anyone have any experience herding cats?  We're gonna need help in a month or two when they start crawling!

Papaw Jay stopped by after working in Jackson one day this week.  This may be my favorite picture so far:

Avery is telling Papaw ALL about it.  She can't wait to ride the popscooter either!

Silas and Avery (and Mom and Dad) LOVE Wednesdays and Thursdays when Mimi comes to play ALL day! Mimi always gets the BEST pictures during the day and texts them to me at work... they never fail to make me smile!  And I wonder what exactly Mimi does behind that camera to get those awesome smiles.....  which makes me laugh too:-)   My patients are so kind to indulge me while I talk nonstop about Silas and Avery:-)

"Silly Mimi. You are so much fun! I want to be just like you when I grow up!"

Just can't get enough of my toys!

Before bedtime, we usually have a meltdown. That's when the clothes come off...  It'll buy us about 15 min to get their bottles made and things ready for bedtime. One night while running bath water, we set Avery down ON HER BACK to play in the floor. We came back in less than a minute... look what we saw!

I think she surprised herself!

Silas is happy to stay on his back for now... or stomach. Not quite ready to flip over yet... at least while we are watching.

We moved from squash to sweet potatoes with much more success!  If they swallow half of what ends up on their faces, I think we've done well:-)

I can't wait to see the new pictures Allison took. They'll be online in a week or so and I'll share!

Under the weather

So after 5 months of being well, we've experienced our first "doctor visit"...  Avery started coughing last week and I took her in to the pediatrician. The RSV test was negative, THANK GOODNESS, but after medicine for 5 days and breathing treatments, she finally is getting better. Poor thing. She just doesn't understand...

Silas is coughing too today, but we've just started giving him the breathing treatments too (like the pediatrician told us:-). Even though they aren't feeling great and are coughing like crazy, they're still playing!! 

I'm sure they'll be better soon. 

We've been having a little bit of trouble understanding why we must eat with a spoon. Silas and Avery love their bottles and just don't care or like the thought of changing things up. We have tried feeding them rice cereal (like they get in their bottle before bedtime...) and after gagging and crying, we wait about a week before trying again....  Well, after a month, we've decided that Avery LOVES to eat (namely, squash) and Silas isn't so crazy about the veggie. We'll try sweet potatoes next. Lord help us if they both don't love sweet potatoes... their mom ate about 3 a week while she was pregnant! 

Ok, now on to share more pictures from the last few weeks.

A few Sundays ago, I had to snap a picture after we got home from church. This is my Papaw. No doubt. Can't you hear him, "I'm just resting my eyeballs".  

Much better after that.

Oh, the prissy princess.

They both LOVE this popper toy. It makes Tummy Time so much more fun:-)

Bruce and I went to the Ole Miss/Kentucky basketball game in Oxford last week. What a great win for the Rebels game! Thank you Mom and Dad for the tickets.. and the child care!  Silas and Avery stayed in Grenada two nights with Mimi and Papaw!  Did I mention what a great WIN game it was?!  (big smile/smirk)


Dad and his little Rebels at 5am.
Hotty Toddy!

Earlier in January, our band, the Switchmasters played at a wedding reception at River Hills. What fun:-)  We play about once every couple of months or so. Aunt GG even joined us for a few songs  this time!   Check out our site - it's on my blogroll on the right. (www.theswitchmasters.com) We try to have a little "soul". :-)

And... DRUMROLL PLEASE......    Yes!  Grace and Micajah are expecting little Sturdivant August 27th!  Silas and Avery are SO excited about their cousin!  My oh my, what fun times ahead:-)  

More, More, More

Had to share a few more pictures... here are a few more of the spoon and other happenings.  It is so hard to believe Silas and Avery will be 5 months next week!  I know, I know... time flies.

   

They love to stroll!  The other day when the sun was out, I just had to bundle us all up (it was still freezing outside!) and walk... Millie too of course:-) Everybody enjoyed the outing!

We've already joked about Avery's "ruffles and bows"... I'm afraid we have a diva on our hands! She LOVES to just look at herself in the mirror. She just smiles and talks to herself... so cute!  When she puts on a frilly dress (this was one of the dresses I wore as a baby:-), it's like she comes to life! ha.

                       

     

They love their new toy Santa brought!

Avery in ruffles...

All cuddled up on a cold, dreary morning...

Silas and Avery have just started to "notice" each other - so funny!  They will just look at each other and talk and talk, talk, talk.  But I must also mention that they "notice" each other being held by someone... I think they've already picked up on jealousy....

They are so much fun to watch... playing together!

Rice and Rolling...

(Again, these are several videos... so if you're getting the email updates, you'll have to go to the actual blog site to watch them)

The day after Christmas, we had so much fun recording "tummy time". They've rolled before, but I think this is the first time they really figured it out... and had fun doing it!

I've been talking about how funny Silas is when we wake him up... you've got to see Phase 1, 2 and 3 of the process. Hilarious! I just wish we could hear what he is thinking:-)

Our pediatrician told us at the 4-month appointment that it was time to introduce our Western culture eating apparatus, the SPOON, to Silas and Avery. He warned us that it probably will take several and possibly many times for them to catch on to the idea... We wanted to be sure to catch the first try on video.

4 months!!

We went to the pediatrician today for Silas and Avery's 4 month shots - they both did great and only cried a little bit with the shots. They got one less this time:-) so only 2 needles and one oral vaccination.  As I type this, they are both napping soundly in the swing and bouncer!  Their 4 month stats:  (just wait til you see... they've GROWN so fast!)

Silas

15lb 9oz  (jumped from the 30th percentile at 2 months to 70th!)

24.5 in long  (60% percentile now)

42.5cm head circumference  (don't remember this one!)

Avery

14lb 1oz  (from the 20th percentile to 60th!)

23.75 in. long (40th percentile)

41cm head circumference

They both got a glowing bill of health from the Dr.!  They've soared up the charts from a measly 5th percentile at birth.  What can we say... these kiddos love to eat!  :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  What an exciting year 2011 will be!!!

4 months!!  I forgot the sign. oops. 

Sunday night we all went to a birthday party for our friend, Brian Ray's 30th. Vera Kate was so nice to let Silas and Avery share the attention of her wonderful grandparents and great-grands while moms and dads cooked Smores outside!

Silas and Avery loved seeing their friend Vera Kate again!

Silas, what do you think about that pretty girl?! 

Their weight and length aren't the only things growing.. check out Avery's hair!  It's time to summon Steven Fields.  And invest in a baby hair dryer. Do they make those?

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Btw, he did get a nice haircut 2 days later:-)

Christmas with the Koonce's!

Grace and Micajah hosted our growing crew of now 14! Grace cooked a delicious pot of spaghetti, we celebrated Christmas, Aunt Debra's birthday, and of course, played with babies:-)  Silas and Avery proudly donned camouflage for Uncle Paul, Daddy and Caleb...

Oh geesh, what we do to make babies smile...  HA.

Starting lessons early...

by the way, it's a lighter for the fireplace or grill..., not a real gun...

Before Silas spit up all over Kelly and Grace's couch... sorry!

Avery loves her hat!

Can't you just hear him... "Ho, freakin' ho"

Our growing family!!  Love y'all!!