Parker goes to gymnastics!

We are so blessed to have DD, my sister Dana, back home from Miami. DD was a gymnast and gymnastics coach for many, many years before pursuing her new career as a hair stylist. She decided that she will take Parker to Mommy (or Auntie) and Tot gymnastics class on Saturday mornings. He loves to spin in circles and climb so we all figured he would love it. Of course he did!!!! I can't wait to go next week and watch him.

Sweet Babies Are One Month Old!

Our sweet twins have been party of our family for one month now! It is hard to believe a month has gone by, but at the same time I feel like they have been a part of our family forever. They are definitely growing like weeds. Audrey is a sweet girl that I refer to as Baby Princess. She is such a little diva already. I am excited to think she may be a girly-girl. Poor Mason is such a sweet cuddly man, but has been a little fighter. He has endured his circumcision, a bad case of baby acne, a blocked tear duct, a bad cold from his brother, and now he has thrush. It must be that "Old Mason Luck" maybe we should rethink his name. We took our first monthly picture on Friday!

 

Bellies and Blessings Photography of Sarasota

I won a free session with Nikki at Bellies and Blessings Photograhy of Sarasota last week. The twins and I headed to her beautiful and relaxing studio on a Friday morning. Nikki and her daughter were so fun and easy to work with. Nikki was so patient with the babies and of course they were on their best behavior. Here are a few sneak peeks of her amazing work!

Oh no! First cold!

The babies turned 4 weeks old yesterday. They are doing really well. Mason is definitely more of a chunky butt than Audrey. You can feel a difference when you pick them up one after another. They are wearing newborn clothes, no more premmie. They are also wearing newborn diapers. Mason LOVES to be held, while Audrey is content hanging out in her bouncy seat or boppy. Mason is usually the first one ready to eat, while Audrey *mostly* waits her turn. They are eating about 3 oz. on a three hour schedule but I am going to try to move them to a four hour schedule soon. Hopefully, this will give me a little bit more time to sleep at night. They whole routine of feeding and diaper changes takes anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half.

Poor babies also developed their first illness. Parker brought home the daycare germies!!! They both are a little congested and have runny noses. Mason is even coughing a little bit. Daddy has it too. Mommy has remained untouched!

"Mom"tographer

A little over a year ago, Daddy bought Mommy her first DSLR camera. I have been shooting in full-auto mode for this entire time, which is pretty much not the reason for having a DSLR. I finally broke down and bought the book "Understanding Exposure" and started my Two Peas 12 Weeks to Better Photography online/self-guided course. I am not exactly the artistic type, so I am not sure how this adventure will work out. Today, I went outside and took a few pictures in AV mode which aperture priority. The ISO was set at 400 which is what the lesson recommended. I started with an f/stop of 5.6 and worked my way up to 36. Of course in the lovely Florida heat my lens got FOGGY. GRRR. I will have to play again but here are some samples.

Model Babies

The babies might be off to a new career at 3 weeks old! We had met Jennifer Mauren back in March to do a family photo shoot before we became a family of 5. Jennifer is a fabulous photographer and so easy to work with. I still tear up when I look at our pictures. It captured a moment in our family history that I will cherish forever. I had also asked her to do a newborn session with the twins when they arrived. I couldn't wait to have her come to our home and capture another moment in our lives that will soon be a distant memory. Teenie tiny little babies!!! Squuuueeee!

Jennifer will be coming tomorrow to photograph my little cuties. I hope they cooperate. I will be sure to post some pictures as soon as she shares them with me.

You might ask why this post is called model babies?? Well...

In addition to Jennifer coming on Thursday, I happened to WIN a FREE session with Bellies and Blessings. I never win anything! Nikki-Lynn with Bellies and Blessings was so kind to offer me two separate sessions, one for the twins and one for the family. We will go on Friday morning to get their pictures done with Nikki.

Pictures and photographers are my weakness, I would spend Daddy's entire paycheck on photos if he would let me.

Here are the pictures that Jennifer did in March. **Tears**

Best babies ever!

I have to say I have been blessed with two wonderful babies. They fell right into a three hour eating schedule, even at night! Sometimes it can get a little bit stressful if they both are really hungry at the same time. They pretty much only cry when they are hungry. Sometimes in the evenings they fuss a little bit if they want to be held. I do my best to give them equal cuddle time but I don't keep a tally sheet. It will be nice when they STTN (sleep through the night)but I am trying to enjoy each and every baby moment since I do know this precious moments will soon be a distant memory. And I leave you with some twin love....(ugh! trouble downloading..they will be up soon.)

Big Brother Woes

Parker just isn't so sure about this whole big brother thing. He is really struggling with the situation. We are very fortunate that he isn't hitting or biting the babies or Mommy. The temper tantrums are horrendous though. There are days where I could guzzle an entire bottle of wine. When I asked the pediatrician last week about this situation I broke down in tears. Basically, we were told to ignore the temper tantrums but reassure our love and support. Not what I wanted to hear. Isn't there a magic pill or spell that will stop this?! Daddy tries his best to give it his all but he mostly just wants Mom. I always try to feed the babies before he gets home from school, before he wakes up, and after he goes to bed. It doesn't always work out perfect though.
Mommy and Daddy made a big decsion to put Parker in school FIVE days a week instead of his normal three. This morning he started crying as Daddy came down the stairs saying, "NO NO NO!" He currently spends 2 days a week with his grandparents but I think he is having trouble with the back and forth. We are hoping if he goes to school 5 days a week it will help his transition move along a bit faster. I really feel that he thrives on structure and routine, school will provide this for him.
Since Daddy stayed home sick with Mommy, we took an adventure to Target and bought the big brother a gift. Here he is helping Daddy put it together.