Giggles and Grins

The girls are starting to get motor skills that we have been worried about. Thursday they turned 5 months old. They can now sit up against things when placed there, they smile a lot, but I still have not heard the best sound, a belly laugh. That baby laugh that just makes the hardship seem worth it. The sound that makes everyone smile and many laugh just at the brightness of it. I am anticipating that sound more than any I think.

They are also finally starting to acknowledge eachother. For the last 2 weeks, the girls have been looking at eachother, and cooing at eachother. It is adorable. Gary and I joke around that they are discussing how they are going to make our lives crazy, and the pranks that they are going to pull. We do not understand what they are trying to say, but the are both talking to eachother so we can only assume that they know what they are saying to eachother. It is rather interesting to watch. And then they do their little laughs, just kind of a coo that has a big smile attached. So we know they are planning something, it will be interesting to see what.

I have read some articles that are rather interesting. It states that many kids are labled by their parents in the beginning. There is the "smart" one, and the "pretty" one. The "slow eater" etc. Mostly the labels are ways of parents describing their children to others, but those tend to stick and the children tend to try to meet the labels that they have. For example, the "pretty" child focuses on his or her appearance as they see that as their place. "Daddy's" girl bonds mostly with their father and loose their selfworth with inattention of male figures. This is why I am trying not to label my daughters. I try only to describe them, but always tell them that they are beautiful and smart.

Sierra has a few new tricks up her sleave as well. Even though she has to wear shoes that immoblize her feet, she has figured out how to use them to her advantage, and remove them when she is tired of them (which is most of the time). She can now untie her shoes, and she can use the weight of the shoes to roll onto her belly. It is really funny to watch. She lifts her feet and tosses them to the side. She then turns her upper body to the side. The last part happens so fast it is hard to catch, but she streightens her legs and turns onto her belly all at once. It is really cool to watch and you realize just how clever she is.

To untie her shoes, she lifts her feet in the air up to her head and pulls on the strings until they untie. How smart is she. It then creates enough of a gap that she slips her feet out like she use to by hooking them at the edge of things and sliding her feet out.

Her roll to her belly caused her to do something that has us boggled. We recognized that it was time to put in a sleep positioner so she would not roll and suffocate at night. We bought a memory foam inclined sleep positioner to help her with her colic nights as well as keep her in place, or so we thought. She somehow managed to go over the top (the most inclined part), do a 180, and roll onto her belly one night. We went in to check up on her and found her in this position. Don't know how it happened, and we still can not quite figure it out. This happened about 2 weeks ago. She was fine, but it sure did scare us a little bit.

Christmas photos from Grandma & Grandpa Carter

OK, I know it is a bit late to be posting these, but so what, I liked them and thought that you might also. Did I mention that the Girls had 3 Christmas celebrations? One at our house, one at Grandma & Grandpa Carters (Gary's Parents), and one with Grammy and Gippy (My mom and her fiance). They also got some great things in the mail from Grandpa Hall and Grandma Anne (My Dad and Step mom).

Also, Here are the photos that I promised to post from their horseback riding experience.



As you can tell, they had to put me in a certain saddle so I could ride with Sierra, however, I generally have to use a youth saddle, so I could not reach the stirrups. In the bottom picture is Our sitter and friend Amanda and our daughter Alyssa. Gary does not ride horses, he is not fond of large animals, and horses fit in that category. The girls really enjoyed horseback riding, in fact, they enjoyed it so much they fell asleep in their papoose sacks.

Christmas Photos... Finally

The first two are from when she came to my house to watch the girls while Gary and I went to the bed and breakfast.

These photos are from when we went to my moms. The girls got to open a few gifts.

Then, as a kind of tradition, I put bows on their heads so they would have a photo that was simular to one that I have of my first christmas.

As you can tell from the photos, they are both getting bigger, and are finally acknowledging eachother. I am just not sure they were happy about the bows. :)

Here is a current photo of them now. This was taken today with their Uncle Jimmy in the photo. So, Here is Uncle Jimmy and Alyssa.

Also, Sorry that some of them are sideways. I am able to transfer them, but am unable to make any changes to them.

Sorry that I took so long to post these.

The "Just Do It" Awards

The Nike slogan "Just do it" has taken a new meaning to me. It has come to symbolize all you have to do as a parent. You "just do it" without thought of how this will benefit you, what can you gan from this, etc... Essentially, being a parent shows you how selfish you were before kids.

If you ask a hero how they became one, they reply they " just did" what they had to do. Following this logic, this would make parents heros to their children. They give of ther time, sleep, and self without thoughts of benefit. They "just do". And, a child, never truely can appreciate all a parent just does for them until it is their turn. This is just for standard parents of healthy children.

Then you have those parents of children with difficulties. These parents need a medal. They are truely role models for the rest as to what it means to love and sacrafice for their children. If you ask them how, again you hear that they " just do it". You don't think of the sacrafice, just the joy of having that special person in your life. I commend all of you, and am giving you my version of a medal of honor. This is for being the best parent by being a loving one, and just doing it. God bless you all.

And so, without further ado, I nominate:

Amy & Nate Boeckman- for her extraordinary care and love of her children and being the rock they need

My Mother - for always being there for us, and sacraficing so we would have what we need

My challenge is for everyone who reads this to post their nominees on their pages. Lets nominate all parents.

Our visit with Santa

In the beginning of December, Gary, the girls, and I went to a Holiday party. They saw santa and I just found the picture that was taken of them. Here it is..

I will have more xmas pictures later, when I can get my camera to let me retrieve them that is. :) Have a happy new year!!!

Reflection of the previous year

Well, I will answer the questions about Christmas and New Years first.

The girls are definately spoiled. They had many gifts, and for us they were our gift. The girls are getting bigger, and are now mostly wearing 0-3 month clothes. Another strange event, is that on their checkup just before christmas, Alyssa is now weighing more than her sister.
For Christmas, we went to my inlaws for christmas eve, then opened gifts to eachother and from us to the girls on christmas day at our house. At about 5 pm we went up to Wichita because my mom's birthday was on saturday. We opened gifts at her house, then left on saturday because Gary had to work on Sunday. Everyone seemed to enjoy seeing them, and the girls actually opened a few of their gifts, with my help of course. They would grip the paper, then I would either turn the present or lean back so the paper would rip. It was quite cute and we got some good pictures of it. I will post those later.

For New years, we slept. That was the highlight of our New Years. We fell asleep at 11pm New Years Eve, and slept in other than getting up to feed the girls.

This last weekend, the girls rode with me and my friend Amanda on horses. We used those papuse packs and rode around a small lake on private property. It was rather fun.

Looking back over this year, a lot has happened. I got pregnant, which I was told could have not happened. Having the disease PCOS, it could have made me infertile, and the fertility treatments do not always work. I was extremely lucky because it worked on the first treatment, and then it worked so well that I had two beautiful girls.

My cousin's family lost their little girl during my pregnancy. It was difficult going to the funeral, but it was a beautiful one, and I am sure that she will continue to live on through her parents and brothers. Her healing grace raised awareness of heart disease and showed the family about the meaning of life a little more, and showed all of us the value of a day, a hour, a minute, and a second. Something that we will probably not forget anytime soon. Ava, your memory will live on, and you will remain loved.

Alyssa and Sierra were born 6 weeks early, had a 2 week stay in the hospital, Sierra got braces on her feet, and the girls have both been given SoonerStart to try to catch up to their peers in their development.

Gary and I celebrated our wedding anniversary during the girls' stay in the hospital, so we celebrated the anniversary of the day we met on December 21. We stayed in a bed and breakfast where we had dinner served in our room, a massage for 2 in our room, and a one night stay in a very nice suite. The bed and breakfast was here in the city, and my mom had come down for the day to watch them.

Also, my mom got engaged to be married and has decided to have the ceremony in July of this year.

I will post the pictures later from the holiday. I hope that everyone had a good holiday, and has a great new year. May the blessings of the season be with your family as it has been with ours, and I look forward to continuing to share the experiences of our daughters with you in this year and the years to come.