Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Scott and I went back and forth about whether or not to use toddler beds for Addison and Fischer, or just go straight to bigger beds. But, when we bought the cribs, we bought the toddler bed conversion rail, so in the end, we decided to use those for awhile. We will most likely move up to bigger beds towards the end of the summer.

So, today was the day. We figured we'd let them get used to these beds before moving (probably in a few weeks!), and then hopefully they will be something familiar for them in their new rooms when we move. After they woke up from naps, Scott went in and changed the cribs into toddler beds. We've been talking it up for several days, trying to get them excited. I also ordered new bedding, which includes a fitted sheet, flat sheet, pillow case and a comforter! I will post pictures of that soon. I didn't want to spend a lot, and I ended up getting some coordinating bedding from Wal-Mart. I know my time on using coordinating stuff for them is limited. :)

So, we let them in their room once Scott was finished. Fischer was SO excited, but Addison was less than thrilled. I have no idea how tonight will go... check back tomorrow for an update!

Here are the last crib pictures I took...





And here they are in their new beds! As I said, Addison was less than thrilled, so I wasn't able to get a good picture of her.


Thursday, May 26, 2011

Our house is almost finished. Our builder said he would be "long gone by the end of June." Crazy!! We are very excited, but I'm not so excited about having to pack.

We are still waiting on the carpet and garage doors to be installed, but other than that, it seems like there are just some small things to take care of!

Here are some pictures of the finished (for the most part) kitchen, laundry room, master bathroom and spare bathroom.  The dishwasher is in, but we are still waiting on the other appliances to be installed.





Oh, and we are very excited that we will have 2 air conditioning units! And, they are already installed! Good thing since it's been in the mid to high 90s this week - I think these new units will be used a lot this summer.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

It got up to 99 degrees today. Way too hot if you ask me! And way too hot to play outside in the afternoon. So, we played outside after dinner. Addison and Fischer decided to take a little swim before baths....



And yes, that's a ponytail in Addison's hair... maybe the cutest ponytail ever?! I was so excited that she actually left it in longer than 30 seconds.



And in other exciting news, Fischer is officially a potty-user! He went both #1 and #2 tonight (and #1 Sunday night too!). That's all I will say about it, but I am so proud of him! :)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Yesterday we set out on an adventure! We went to a nearby(ish) park to explore. They have a lot of trails, a playground, a splash zone (that we weren't prepared for but definitely will be next time), water, and a lot of other stuff to look at!

We got there right at snack time, so Addison and Fischer each had a granola bar before we went on our little hike.  We became friends with a little squirrel, and the kids thought it was very fun to share their snacks.



They did so well on the trails, and LOVED being able to walk freely without holding our hands.


We saw some water, and even saw some fish. We also got to borrow this net from a nice man, Mr. Jim, and Scott caught some minnows so Addison and Fischer could see them. I think they thought that was cool.



We'll definitely be going back! It's nice that the trails are shady since it is only getting hotter now. Next time, well take bathing suits and towels so Addison and Fischer can play in the splash zone - they weren't happy when we walked by and they couldn't play. :)

Scott and I even got a free second to take a picture together - this is very rare!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

To prepare for our big move, we had a yard sale over the weekend. We managed to unload some stuff, which means there will be less stuff to pack. Yay for that!

One of the items we sold was our glider...

I had mixed emotions about selling it. There are so many memories of Addison and Fischer tied to that chair, but ultimately, I knew it was time to let it go. As if they knew, they both started crying the night before and saying "rock rock!" So, I rocked them one last time!! I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry a little too.








It's time to make some new memories!!

Speaking of memories... Addison and Fischer are 27 months old today - we've survived 3 months of having two 2 year olds so far... ;)

Thursday, May 19, 2011

The kids and I have all been sick this week so that hasn't left much time for updating our blog.  I am hoping we are all on the mend today....

The house is changing daily! Since my last house update, they have installed light fixtures, ceiling fans, granite and marble counters, and faucets. They have power washed the deck so they can seal it. They have started the exterior stucco and stone work. They have stained the floors and painted the garage.  And, they have put on all of the door knobs.

I'm sure I'm missing something. Like I said, things are changing everyday!

I will try to get some more pictures soon, but for now, here's a peek at the granite in our kitchen! We are very excited about our single basin sink!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Addison and Fischer are growing up! They got to hold their own corn on the cob tonight!




I haven't had much time to read lately, but did manage to finish one book and start another during my trip to Nashville a couple of weeks ago.

I finished South of Broad by Pat Conroy. This was a book recommended by Scott, and I really did like it. It was sort of long so it took some time to get through. I especially liked that it was set in Charleston, so I could relate to a lot of the places mentioned.



I then started, and have since finished, Life Laughs by Jenny McCarthy. I liked this book, but not nearly as much as Belly Laughs and Baby Laughs.



I am currently reading another Jenny McCarthy book, Louder Than Words (I got them all very cheap on Amazon.com). Once I"m done, I may need to take a trip to the library for some fun chick-lit books!

Monday, May 16, 2011

We have lived in our rental house an entire year already! In most ways, the year has flown by. And the strangest thing of all is to think about how Addison and Fischer weren't even walking when we moved here. They were crawling everywhere but hadn't walked at all yet! Now, it's hard to remember a time when we weren't chasing after them.

Addison started walking about a week after we moved in and Fischer followed about a week later. They were just under 15 months old!

For a little blast from the past, here are the first walking videos I took of each of them! Oh, how things have changed!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Ever since I was pregnant, people have talked about how twins have secret languages and later in life, start working together, usually against the parents. :) You've probably all seen the video online of the twin boys having the "conversation" and cracking each other up. Addison and Fischer never really had this type of communication. Sure, they made each other laugh but I never felt left out of what was going on. Until recently, that is.

A couple of weeks ago was the first time we really noticed it. During dinner, as they were eating, they kept looking at each other and saying "Bop!" And they would crack up. They did this over and over, night after night. I had no idea what was so funny about it.  They've stopped saying it, so I guess I'll never know what that was about.

Our rental house has an old shed in the back and the kids aren't allowed to play around or behind it. Recently, they've become very curious about what's behind it (weeds and who knows what else) and keep trying to sneak back there. I always tell them "no" and redirect their attention. Last week, I'm pretty sure they tried to team up against me. I was doing something else for a few seconds. They took this opportunity to go over to the shed. When I looked up, Fischer was just standing in front of it but I didn't see Addison. As I started walking towards the shed, Fischer said very loudly, while looking at Addison, "Hiiii Mommy!" I am 99% sure he was signaling to her that I was coming!

And the most recent thing... Last night, we were playing after dinner. Addison walked over to Fischer and said "Hi big guy!" And he said "Hi Ria." And they both laughed SO hard. Then, they kept running up to each other saying "Hi Ria!!" I think they laughed harder each time. When I said "Who's Ria" they laughed even harder!! I felt totally left out of their little joke, but I couldn't help but laugh along with them because they thought it was so funny!!

I'm sure there will be many more inside jokes and secrets in the years to come. It will be an adventure, for sure....

Here are a couple pictures that Scott sent me while I was in Nashville. I was so proud of him for putting a bow in Addison's hair! :)


Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Our builder told us today that our house should be complete in 4-6 weeks. Yay!!

Scott and I are pretty neutral people when it comes to paint colors. We knew we wanted the main color in our house to be in the tan family. It's unreal how many choices there are for tan. After putting several different samples up, we finally chose one that we both really liked. We decided to use Sherwin-William's Relaxed Khaki for our main color...It will be in the living room, dining room, kitchen, foyer, hallway, and playroom. We love how it looks, and how it appears a bit different in each space because of lighting.  Here is the playroom after one coat of paint...


And the living room...

We are hoping they will do the second coat of paint this week. They should be installing the granite this week, and the house may even have power by Friday!

We've also decided on beds for Addison and Fischer. When we move, we won't be taking their cribs with us. What a sad day that will be for me!! We figured since we are changing their environment by moving, we might as well throw in another big change too, to get it all done at once. They will go into full sized beds, AND they will be in their own rooms. We aren't sure how they will react to everything, so I'm trying not to think about it too much right now. I am really excited about their beds though, and we hope the furniture we are buying them will last through high school. I will post pictures of that soon. For now, I'm searching for the perfect bedding...

More to come soon!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Last Thursday, we had an eventful evening. And not in a good way.

Scott was getting ready to grill our dinner, so the kids and I were playing outside. They were playing so nicely together, with very minimal bickering, which isn't always the case. At one point, Fischer picked up a stick that happened to be quite large. He turned while holding it, and Addison happened to be standing right there. The stick hit her right above her eye, which we are very thankful for. If it had just been a little lower, it would have hit her actual eye. It was a complete accident and I could tell he was confused about what was going on.



It was bleeding a lot and we couldn't tell how deep it was, so we decided it'd be best to take her to Urgent Care. I took her while Scott stayed home with Fischer. I drove way too fast to get there because I was worried about the blood dripping into her eye. I know, gross! We got there, and by some miracle, were the only ones there. We got called back immediately, and they weighed Addison (26 pounds) and took her blood pressure and temperature. I knew the exam was going to be rough because she was freaking out over the weight and blood pressure part.

The doctor came in very quickly. He tried to look at her eye while I was holding her but she was moving around way too much, so he wasn't able to get a good look. He then had me lay her on the exam table and tried to look at it that way, but again, she was not holding still. Unfortunately, they had to get out the "papoose." It was a backboard with straps for her arms and legs, sort of like a straight jacket. They strapped her into it and a nurse held her head so the doctor could actually see the injury. This was the only time in the ordeal I felt like crying - I hated seeing her strapped in like that, and she kept screaming "I get out!!!" She could barely catch her breath, and it was a miracle that she didn't make herself sick.

Once they had her strapped into the papoose, it took less than a minute for the doctor to determine that she didn't need stitches. He said it would scar, but to use Mederma to help reduce the scarring, and to be sure to keep sunscreen on it all summer.

We were done, and it took longer to do our discharge paperwork than it did or the actual exam. And, Addison got her first sucker ever!! The nurse couldn't believe I'd never given her a sucker! :) We made it home by 8 pm, and Addison got some Tylenol, some Neosporin on her eye, ate a late dinner and went to bed.

Here eye is looking better each day and doesn't seem to be bother her at all. Thank goodness!!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

We had a good weekend, and I can hardly believe today was my third Mother's Day!!

Yesterday morning, we went to the farmer's market, which Addison and Fischer love. They talk about the farmer's market through the week, and they love having their weekly boiled peanuts and lemonade there. They also like to see the different animals that are there each week.

Yesterday afternoon, we got Addison and Fischer suited up so they could play in the sprinkler. As soon as I put Addison's bathing suit on, she said "Oh Mommy! Bebe suit pretty!" The water was pretty cold, but they had a great time. Whenever the water hit Fischer, he would say "ouch" since it was cold. It wasn't a pretty sight when it was time to come in, but at least they had a good time! I couldn't get over how old they looked in their bathing suits. Last spring, they were just learning to walk and were still pretty unsteady, and still looked so small in their bathing suits. This year, they run everywhere and look like little kids!






Last night, Scott and I got to go to dinner. Thanks to Jim and Dianne (Jeem and Di Di) for watching the kids! Before dinner, we went to a couple furniture stores to start the search for Addison and Fischer's big beds. We didn't find any but we think we are going to go with the ones we've been eyeing in Pottery Barn's catalog for months!

Today was a nice and relaxing Mother's Day. It included a trip to Lowe's to pick out some light fixtures for the house and a lot of outside play time. We also sold our changing table... I was sad to see it go! We listed it on Craigs List since we knew we didn't want to move it, but didn't expect it to sell so fast.  After doing some calculations today, I figure we changed over 11,000 diapers on that changing table!

Here we are tonight, relaxing and watching a movie.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!! :)

Friday, May 6, 2011

We spent some time at the new house today! The doors are on, the paint is dry and the floors are clean(er) so we figured it would be fun to let the kids run around. They had a blast!!! Fischer's favorite thing was standing at the top of the stairs and yelling "Hello there!" Addison loved "hiding" in the spare bathroom shower. They also got to have their afternoon snack on the porch since the screen door is in. It was so nice spending some time there and talking about where we want to put our furniture and things like that. It really won't be much longer until we are living there for real!

Here is a picture of the kitchen cabinets - we really like how the stain turned out.


And here is Fischer's room after the first coat of paint. We decided on Topsail by Sherwin-Williams for his room. Scott knew right away he wanted to do blue but it took some convincing for me. After looking at a lot of colors, we both liked Topsail. And then when I saw the name, I thought maybe it was meant to be since I found out I was pregnant in Topsail Beach, NC!


For Addison's room, we went with Queen Anne's Lace, also by Sherwin Willams. In this picture, it looks a little yellow. It's actually a very light green, which I think will look great with some girly bedding!


And here is a picture from yesterday while they were clearing some additional trees. Our backyard is now a bit bigger than we were expecting, but it will be great for Addison and Fischer. The more room to run off some energy, the better!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

So much has happened with our new house! The hardwood floors are in, the trim, ceilings and walls are painted, the steps going into the garage are built, the deck and screened porch are finished (except for the screens being put in, which will be happening soon)....and several other projects are in progress. It's exciting to see all of the changes! I might be most excited about the deck and screened porch.





Yesterday, some additional trees were being cut down. In addition, piles of trees that had already been cut down were being taken away. This will give us a better idea about what our backyard is going to be like.

We are very pleased with the paint colors we chose! I will do a detailed post about those soon, but it's amazing how different the house looks with paint on the walls. The kitchen cabinets have been stained too, as well as the front door, back doors and pantry door. We've picked the stain for the hardwood floors and they will begin those soon.

We've also picked the hardware for all of our cabinets and drawers.... The picture shows the ones we will be using in the kitchen. The rest of the house will have the same style, but in the bronze finish that matches the hardware on all of our doors. They also agreed to go ahead and put in all of the child-proof cabinet locks for us, so we just have to go buy those and drop those off. That's pretty exciting news for us! :)

We also picked all of the faucets and sinks. Addison and Fischer's bathroom will have a drop-in sink and this faucet...

While our bathroom and the guest bathroom will have white vessel sinks (sitting on top of the counter). Those bathrooms will have this faucet...



Next, we need to pick our lights and ceiling fans. After that, the decision making should slow down a bit. Until we have to start deciding on furniture, decor, etc.... Stay tuned for pictures of painted walls. Exciting stuff! :)