Mommy Group

 At the end of October I took Brandon and Sophia over to our church's Compassion Center to meet the Parish Nurse. She happened to mention a mommy group at Holy Cross Hospital (couple miles from us) that I should check out. I actually took the time to do that and the next week on Oct. 29th by myself with the twins I ventured over to this mommy group. I almost chickened out especially after lots of spit up, getting lost (turns out not actually at the hospital but near by), no parking, being super late and well just being a little scared. I am so glad that I didn't chicken out. That Wed. morning mommy group has been the greatest thing. Every Wednesday morning we go and hang out with other moms and their babies and a couple great nurses that are full of help. This last week was our last Wed. as you are only suppose to stay in until 6 months or mobile.  We have had an amazing time and are so sad to leave.  But both the twins and I have made friends and we are all starting our own mommy group for the older kids and we continue to meet up and do things at parks and the library. For me who who went from working 10-12 hour days to staying home alone with 2 babies it was a life saver. I am so grateful to Nurse Jeanie telling me about it.  Here are some pics of Brandon and Sophia with their mommy group friends. So cute to watch them play together.

Ethan

Luke

Ethan

Luke

He LOVES drums!

So does she!

A New Friend

Meet Miss Zippy. She is the newest member of our family.  In theory she belongs to Sophia, but Brandon is fan as well. She is pretty cute! :)

Zebra girls

When Sophia was a baby she used to neigh like a horse in her sleep. We started calling her a zebra and it's just kind of stuck. She has gotten into as well. If you give her the choice of 2 outfits one zebra print and one not she will pick the zebra print. And we figure that must be why she hisses and growls at people when she gets mad.

Zippy & Miss Zippy

Back while we were waiting for Brandon and Sophia (and thought there would be one of them) we bought a Zebra who Abigail and Rebekah named Zippy for us. While walking through Walmart one day Sophia spotted this girl zebra and just started laughing and didn't want to put her down. Next time we went she did the same so needless to say we bought a zebra. Miss Zippy seemed to be just the right name. So Miss Zippy now joins our crazy group of stuffed animals.

Drums

Brandon and Sophia have quite the budding social life these days. Between mommy group and meeting up with friends for different library events we are having lots of fun. One of the things we went to was a percussion demo at the library. Two men had a bunch of drums and other percussion instruments they played. They also let all of the kids use drums, maracas, and tambourines to play along. At first they were scared to death of the loud drums. After a bit they got more used to it. Brandon decided to be his usual social self and enjoyed the maraca. Sophia stuck close to me. Either way they had fun with their friend Aavi and got to try something new.

Friends

A little scared at the beginning

Playing along

Legos with Daddy

The giant legos

We discovered that every Tuesday morning our library has lego time. You just show up and build with soft blocks, giant legos, or Duplos. Since Daddy is off every other Tuesday we headed to play. They had a good time building with Daddy and interacting with the other kids.  After legos they checked out their first library books.  We are looking forward to more fun with Daddy on his next day off!

watching the big kids build

Soft blocks with Daddy

9 months!

I'm a little behind (as always) but on June 21st Brandon and Sophia turned 9 months. I have no idea where the time has gone. Every day they get bigger, learn something new and are more fun.

We are now in the mobile phase. They both sit, crawl and pull themselves up. Brandon is also trying to walk using furniture, boxes, and/or walkers. They think they should be able to stand up and pull up on anything and everything. We have a lot of little head bumps during the day. Playing "the drums", climbing on mommy and daddy, and books are other favorite activities. We love to dance and clap and send text messages, type on the computer and talk on the phone. And if you make Sophia mad she will do this growling hissing thing at you. It's her zebraness coming out. Cuddling doesn't happen as much as it used to, but sometimes you can get some good snuggles. You will always get kisses and hugs though. Now if I could just teach Brandon not to kiss everyone on the lips. :)

They are doing a great job feeding themselves finger foods. They enjoy eating most anything we eat. Favorites are spaghetti and sweet potatoes. Pizza is also a favorite, but so far they've only had crust and sauce. Oh and Sophia loves ice cream cake. Might not want to tell her doctor that one!  Besides the occasional bad night due to a long day or teething, we are doing a great job with sleeping (once we get to sleep).

I think our favorite thing to watch as they are getting older is their interactions. They are truly best friends already. They talk to each other all the time, try to hold hands, and can make each other giggle more than anyone else can. They also have to know where the other is and if Sophia is crying Brandon will usually have to come "take care of her." Of course many times he is the cause of the crying, but hey they'll figure that out later. They also now have friends that they play with. It is so weird to think they are that big, but it's fun to watch them play. We need to work on sharing and Daddy says no more kissing boys for Sophia.

They continue to be the greatest gift and we are just loving being their parents.  Here are their official 9 months stats from the doctor and a bunch of pictures.

Brandon: 17.23 pounds and 27.25 inches  Teeth: 2 bottom, 2 tops, and 2 more tops halfway in
Sophia: 18.16 pounds and 26.75 inches     Teeth: 2 bottom

9 Months

Family pic

Big boy!

Waiting for the dr. @our 9 month appt.

wearing Nate's hat

Sophia snuggles (one thing
I miss about them being little)

Riding Sophia's car

Firelady!

I think he might be steal the hat. :)

Best friends!

Zebra girls

Book Signing

Last night we went to a book signing/author talk for one of our favorite authors Brad Meltzer. This is the 2nd time we have met him and I have to say he is a class act. Even though we were in the C group (which means he had already been signing for a long time) he took time to talk with us the same as when we were one of the first the last time we met him. He also took the time to comment on how he noticed how quiet and well behaved Brandon and Sophia were during his talk. They of course rocked it out and charmed everyone at Barnes and Noble even though by the time we got our books signed it was after 9pm! So now Brandon and Sophia have 3 books signed by the author. It will be fun for them as they get older. If you've never read any of his books (adult or children) check them out.

Trip to Iowa

Cousins Tate & Harper

 At the end of May/beginning of June we headed to Iowa for cousin Katie's wedding and to introduce Brandon and Sophia to the rest of the family.  They were great travelers and did great meeting lots of people and being away from home. They really enjoyed their cousins and I think the feeling was pretty mutual. :)  While we were there we got the chance to swim, go to the park, watch the cousins play baseball/softball, and found out that Brandon takes after his daddy and LOVES to dance. He was having a great time dancing with Logan's cousin's little girl at the wedding. He would have danced all night if my knees would've been able to hold out! :) Hopefully we will see everyone again soon!

Family pic before the wedding

Great Grandma Lenhart

Great Grandma Lenhart

Logan & Harper

Mommy & Brandon at the wedding

The bride

Swimming with Grandpa

Swimming with mommy

Cousins Harper & Hank

playing at the park

Grandma

Aunt Leah

Cousins at the park

Dancing with Maggie
He loved it!!

Daddy & Sophia