White Christmas

We had a wonderful holiday season. Beautiful weather (if you like snow), lots of family time and great food!!

Tate and Tara didn't really understand what all the fuss was about, but they loved playing with the new toys (and boxes!)

Gage was SO EXCITED about Santa. And since he was such a good boy this year Santa left him many, many new toys.

We made a lot of stops during our Christmas weekend including my Grandma Brooks' house where we took a picture of Grandma with two sets of twins. There are three sets in our family; my uncles, my cousins, Kacey and Lacey and my twins.

We also ate lunch with Aubie's Aunt Sue and her family. They spoiled us with pies and presents!!

We spent time with my parents, my brother and his wife, Beth. Shane and Beth are expecting their first child in July 2010 so we had a wonderful time dreaming of what next Christmas will be like with another baby in the house!!

Saturday afternoon we braved the icy roads and went to Aubie's mom's house. Robert, Susan and their three girls, Catey and her two boys were all there to open presents and watch the chaos!

After all of that traveling and play, Tate was too tired for dinner!!

Fall

We had our first family pictures made last weekend. It was wild and hectic, but the memories will be worth it! Everything is going very well here (knock on wood!!) Tara is still taking a few steps, here and there, but she's not up to a mile per day like we thought she would be. She had a chicken pox scare last week, but it turned out to be hand-foot-mouth virus which was still hard on her, but it cleared up much faster and was much less severe than the chicken pox. Tate is cutting more teeth (he has two on bottom, one on top and is getting another on bottom! A little unorthodox in pattern, but they will all show up eventually!) He had his first dose of antibiotics last week for an ear infection (he finished his antibiotics the day Tara got sick!!) He also had another asthma flair up, but we were able to get it under control quicker than before and without oral steroids. Gage is SO excited about visiting Aryn, Addy and Ainsley for Thanksgiving. He truly thinks those girls hung the moon (as do we). He is doing so well in school and is getting taller every day (as evident by the length of his jeans!!) Aubie's schedule has slowed down, finally, so we are enjoying more family time which is a WONDERFUL thing!

I found this picture on Aubie's computer. It is the last picture taken of me before the twins were born. I look slightly uncomfortable, don't you think?!!! This was Gage's 4th birthday party, which was exactly one week before Tate and Tara were born. We measured my "waist" that week and it was 44"!! Time truly slips away from you...

NO WAY!!

The twins will be 10-months old tomorrow. And Tara is walking. Seriously! Aubie's cousins, Lori, Chelsea and Chloe, came over tonight. Tara has always been fascinated with Lori (LoLo). Well tonight Tara let go of the couch, stood up for a minute then took off walking to her!! IT WAS CRAZY! She took 2 steps the first time, 3 steps the second time and then 2 steps back towards Gage. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow. Goodnight.

Happy Halloween!!

We had a great time at Gage's FIRST school party and trick or treating. We had two days of candy and fun!!

9 months old...ALREADY?!

This post is long past due, but I've been a little under the weather. (Nothing a strong antibiotic and zyrtec couldn't cure!!) Currently, at this moment, we are all healthy. Gage's babysitter was diagnosed with H1N1 yesterday, so we are closely monitoring everyone!!

Tate and Tara went for their 9 month check up last Friday (October 16). Tara has grown SO MUCH in the last 3 months!! She is 28"long and weighs 18 lbs 2 oz! She has packed on 3" and 5 lbs in 90 days! She has 6 teeth (4 top, 2 bottom) and her first word was "dada." She is speed crawling, pulling up on everything, cruising around stuff and standing, very briefly, on her own. She and Gage crawl-race around the living room and she has actually come very close to beating him. She recognizes the word "no" and has started fake crying when she hears it. Too cute! Her favorite activity is GETTING INTO CABINETS!! Definitely time to baby-proof everything!

Tate is still our chubba-bubba. He is 28 1/4" long and weighs 21 lbs 6 oz. We're trying more meds to control his asthma. He's currently taking Singulair and Pulmicort daily and using his albuterol as needed, which is usually twice daily. {Please say a quick prayer that he is one of the millions of children that "grow out of" asthma...I don't want it to affect his ability to play with friends or participate in activities.} He has 2 bottom teeth and he has the cutest giggle! Luckily he is a very happy baby so every where we go people comment on his adorable laugh!! His first official word was "up" which he started saying when he was finished eating and wanted out of his highchair. Now he says it anytime someone walks by him!! He can crawl but he doesn't do it often. He's usually content just watching everyone else!

Gage got his first report card and it was nearly perfect. He also had his first school pictures which are very cute but they made me sad...he looked like a big kid!! He is so excited about Halloween and all the parties that are coming up.

Nothing new. YAY!

Everyone is healed up and we're getting back to our version of normal. Tate is on his preventative asthma medicine and seems to be handling it well. I've added some new pictures. The twins have started eating fresh fruit and yogurt. They're favorites are bananas and grapes. Gage took a picture with his kitten (which unfortunately is no longer with us) and his favorite book that he got at the Jenks aquarium. Have a great week.

All is well...currently

It has been a looooong 10 days. It started a week ago Wednesday. Tara woke up with a 103.5 fever and vomiting. I took her to the doctor and he said it was either a) a virus or b) the flu. Either way, we needed to just watch it closely and let it run its course. Thursday afternoon Tate had to be picked up a daycare because he was running a 102.5 fever. Friday was full of sick, cranky kids. Saturday I woke up not feeling well and running a low fever. Sunday I was miserable so Aubie called the grandparents for help and I stayed in bed all day. Everyone was patched up enough to go back to work/daycare Monday. Tate's asthma was aggravated by the sickness so I took him to the doctor Wednesday and we began oral steroids. Once this flair-up is settled, we will start a daily preventive medicine to help get us through the winter without many more problems (hopefully). Thursday Aubie was running a fever and felt horrible. But right now, today, everyone feels better!!! Gage is the only family member that did not catch this bug (guess it shows who has the toughest immune system!!)

And during this whole escapade, Tara cut both of her top, front teeth!! Talk about bad timing!! She now has 4 teeth and she will use them on you if given the chance...yeah, we're working on learning the word "no."