A week of "firsts"

What a week! It all started with Evaline crawling (for her first "creeps" see video in earlier post) she is now full-fledged "big girl" crawling with both knees on the ground; and boy is she quick (I'll get to that part of the story in a bit). Here are some other "firsts" that we've encountered:

Getaway

For the first time, Ian and I went on a little get-away. Ian's parents watched the girls for three days (THANK YOU!!) while we went to a little bed and breakfast in Hermann, MO. Hermann, MO is kind of a poor-man's Napa Valley. We visited several wineries, a brewery, and came home with more bottles of wine than we could drink in a year. It was a lot of fun, and - as much as I love the girls - it was nice to get away. By the end of the long mid-week-weekend, I was ready to come back: the weather was roasting hot and sticky, and I was ready to get back home with the gals. But, again, it was nice to get away.

Here's a picture of the view from our room. Hermann borders the Missouri River about 50 (I'm guessing here) miles west of St. Louis; it is surprisingly hilly in this area. Our hotel was on the outskirts of the small town, on a bluff overlooking both the town and the river. A very pretty view.

Independence

For the first time, Evaline fed herself an entire bottle - completely hands-free from me. I had them both alone over feeding time and decided to give it a try (instead of feeding one, then the other). For quite some time Evaline has been holding on to her bottle when we feed her, so I thought I'd let her try it out while I fed Cora. I rested her in her boppy, gave her the bottle and fed Cora (who prefers that I do most things for her). Sure enough...all-gone!

For the first time, Cora made some initiative towards feeding herself. The girls were munching on their biter biscuits, and Cora would hold on to hers in her mouth....if I first put it in her mouth, and then wrapped her hand around it. A minor improvement, but (while Evaline takes adventurous leaps) Cora only takes cautious baby steps.

Emergencies and Medical Care

For the first time, we had a fever in the house. Evaline woke up Tuesday with a fever. We're not quite sure why, but it was a little unsettling at first. I'm sure that as time goes on we will encounter many, many fevers, but since this was the first one, I think that I have every right to be slightly unsettled about it. We checked for teeth, and no swelling or sharp ridges are to be found. I wouldn't be surprised if they show up soon, but no evidence as yet. I could tell that Evaline wasn't feeling well yesterday, though...our normally go-go-go-girl just wanted to snuggle and cuddle. Is it bad to wish she had fevers more often?

And finally, for the first time, we had to visit the emergency room. Remember earlier when I said that Evaline was quick? In our spare room that I we use as an office/playroom/Ian's closet we have (had) a full-length mirror propped against the wall, slightly behind the door. Mere seconds after I looked at the mirror and thought to myself, "nah, she couldn't knock that over" Evaline crawled over to see the "other" baby and knocked the mirror over - over right onto her innocent, bystanding (bysitting?) sister's head. There was broken glass, screaming, a little bit of blood, bruising, and a near-miss on a heart attack (that part was me). I had no idea how to check if she was OK, how to check how bad it was, it looked like there might be glass still in the cut, so of course we called the doctor who sent us the emergency room. As it turns out, it was a medium-sized bruise and a very minor cut. No glass removal, no stitches, nothing serious. If I wasn't a brand-new parent, and she wasn't seven months old, it probably wouldn't have necessitated an ER trip. I think I'll have to have their aunt Katie (the nurse) give me some emergency response pointers. Here Cora is, showing off her "wound":

and...being silly (see....she's OK!!)

Oh the places she'll go...

Well, once she got started, it hasn't taken long. Evaline is learning that she can get almost anywhere she wants to go. Oh my! Here's the proof:

School's out for the summer...

This past Tuesday was my last day of school until mid-August. Ian worked through Thursday, but is now off until mid-August as well (he goes back a week later than I do, actually). So now...summer. Ahhhhh. It feels so good to be home for awhile. Not just home, I suppose, but home with the girls. So far, I'm loving it. But...it has only been a few days.

My first day off I met Ian and his co-workers for lunch, it was the first time that several of them met the girls and I'm happy to report that there were no tears. (Lately they have been a bit wary of strangers, when they met my sister's bf they burst into tears and once calmed down proceeded to stare at him for an hour - I'm pretty sure they didn't even blink - particularly Evaline.) After lunch I took the girls to pick up diapers at Target (and after today I will have made three trips to Target in the five days I've been home). But, let me say this again, I took the girls to Target. Just me. This was a big step - the first solo trip with the girls to somewhere beyond Gramma's (and Grampa's) house. And it went swimmingly. I straped Evaline (she's lighter) into the Baby Bjorn (thanks Gretchen! - we will be missing it when we have to give it back in a couple weeks), and plopped Cora in the cart and off we went.

On Thursday I went shopping with the girls again, to the baby consignment shop - we're looking for a new baby carrier (see above perenthesized comment). These girls are so good! Who knew twins would be so easy (just kidding - but, if you are going to have twins, these would be the ones to have)!

In the past almost-month (I can't believe its been so long since I've posted), the girls have grown up so! They are sometimes eating semi-solids - those little baby puff things: our doctor says to start them on these instead of Cheerios as they disolve a bit quicker and are better for learning, and little pieces of cut-up banana, and an occasional Nilla wafer. Evaline does better at feeding herself, she's even started to drink some water out of a sippy (and LOVES it). Cora likes all of these things, and can eat them, but prefers (demands?) to be fed she has no interest in attempting to do it herself.

They are on the verge of crawling. Evaline is quite mobile, getting where she needs to go (or, going where she needs to to get what she wants). They both get up on their hands and knees and rock and rock. Cora only goes backwards, which frustrates the heck out of her; but today Evaline went forward for the first time. This time next month, they will definately be keeping us on our toes.

Finally, they are really starting to notice one another. They have been more and more over the past several months, but it is really starting to take off. And whats more, I think they like each other - hooray! - I hope they keep that up!

When Ian was at work on Wednesday I decided to have a photo shoot with the ladies, here are the highlights (plus a couple other random ones, just for fun).

Evaline - feeding herself something kinda sugary - pure bliss...


Cora - I love this picture!


I didn't know it was possible for 7-month-olds to have a favorite toy, but these girls love their animals...or at least they love trying to eat them...


Evaline also likes to try and eat her sister, alas, Cora doesn't cooperate nearly as well as the bunny


Cora takes her revenge - I'm so sad this one came out blurry, but I still had to share


Cora, making her usual "why is that little black box with the flashing light covering Mommy's face again; I don't like it" face


Ian isn't a huge fan of the headbands, but I don't think the girls could possibly get any cuter

This is one of my new favorites

This one, too...(and the hug is only semi-staged)

Giggles

Mom and Dad were watching the girls on Monday and captured some incredibly cute footage of Evaline playing with her aunt Katie - just a-giggling away! Another funny aspect of the video - Cora off the side, just watching, content, but just watching...

A tragic mistake...

Probably the best picture that we have of Cora, I have lost. Not lost completely. I technically still have it. In fact it is included here. But as I was re-sizing it so that the file size would be small enough to fit on the blog, I accidentally hit "save" instead of "save as" and so...it's use is forevermore relegated solely to the blogosphere. And here I thought I'd finally have one good enough to frame.

You see, Cora hates the camera. More specifically, I think, she hates the flash on the camera. While Evaline sees that light and thinks it is time to show-off, Cora clams up if she even catches a glimpse from the corner of her eye. We got this picture of Cora without the flash...and it looks just like her. As I said before, its probably the best one we have of her because it captures exactly what she looks like. What a cutie. (I know I'm biased, but, seriously, can you get any cuter?)



In other news, the girls turned SIX months last Tuesday! And Ian and I are horrible parents because we have yet take their 6-month-comparison-pic. Maybe we'll get to it this week and I'll post it then. :)

In the meantime...

Evaline and her daddy cuddling...the girls usually take a 20-minute lap-snooze in the evening. Since we're both working and see them, it seems, so little we feel compelled to indulge them a bit and don't put them in their cribs for this nap. I'm not sure if there is another 20-minute span during the day that I enjoy more...


Yesterday it was sunny, but kind of chilly out, and we still wanted to go for a walk. Ian laughed at me, but I felt it was necessary for them to wear both a hat for warmth and a hat for sun. Dorky as it may be, the final result was also adorable.

My first "Mother's Day"

Happy Mother's Day to all the mama's out there! So far it has been a happy day for me. We went to breakfast with my parents and grandparents this morning and off to the Petersen side for dinner later this afternoon. The girls are as good as ever (we have very good little girls), and we got most of our chores done yesterday which leaves today to just hang out and update the blog while the girls nap. Yes, I did say nap. They've been asleep for a little over an hour!! Which, for us, is quite the achievement! Last week we began a military-esque regimen of napping/eating/playing/begin again...and so far it appears to be helping. Hoo-ray!

School is winding down...just four more weeks! And that includes one four-day week (because of Memorial Day), and three days of finals! This year I am really getting spring fever, and every weekend that we have reminds me of how anxious I am to spend the summer home with my girls (and Ian, too).

As usual, I have a whole host of photos to post here...but I will confess I've been as lazy at taking pictures as I have at updating the blog - most of these pics were taken this weekend :-)

Mother's Day morning...me and my girls


Here is what the girls got me...I think they are angling for some homemade applesauce or something...

Ready for a walk in our super-awesome new stroller! It's like pushing a Cadillac!

Cora has been rolling over more and more lately. She is starting to learn to creep, but can really only go backwards (although she's really, really working on going forward). Yesterday she was fussing at the end of her nap and when I went to go get her, this is what I saw. It made me laugh, so I had to record it for posterity. :-)

From another view. I believe her thoughts here are: "Why the heck are you taking a picture instead of helping me?!"

Evaline wasn't doing so hot with the solid foods. Since it was more trouble than it was worth, we've taken her off them for a couple of weeks. Although, per doctor's orders, we sit her where she can watch Cora while Cora is eating. (I think its pretty funny...most of the time she does watch - intently.)

And just for the sake of cuteness....Evaline and her bunny, she LOVES to gum these ears. We've actually bought her two more bunnies so she doesn't completely destroy it before she stops loving it!

And finally, despite what everyone thinks, Cora is not a serious baby. She is just a little deliberate and perhaps a little stingy with her smiles. And, she doesn't like the camera, at all. But I did happen to sneak a picture without her noticing the camera...this is the Cora her dad and I see at home:

Magnolia trees in bloom...

Not little Robin Redbreast. Not the red-winged blackbird. Not even the various shades of yellow and orange jonquils that are blossoming in my garden. For me, it is the blooms of the magnolia trees that signify spring-time in Iowa.

I love Iowa's transitional seasons. We didn't have them in New Mexico. Not really. Not like we have them in Iowa. Around October and November, Autumn is my favorite season. But when April rolls around, nothing beats spring. Spring, with the hints of warmth on the lightly floral-scented breeze; with the first open windows airing out a stuffy house; with the sight of the giant pink-and-white magnolia blossoms. For me, magnolia blossoms mean: Lagomarcino Hall, lilac bushes and flowering trees on the walk to class, rounding up girls to help build the VEISHEA float - or hold a balloon in the VEISHEA parade, bedracing and tug-of-war, sunning on the front walk, frisbee in the lawn...and all of those other wonderful things that mean April at Iowa State. My first real spring that I ever experienced was in college...and so, for me, springtime will always mean those memories. I love those memories. And so, I love spring.

This year, spring means a bit more. It means scrambling to find time to work in the yard when every weekend it rains and baby girls (still, at five and half months) don't like to nap. It also means that summer is right around the corner...a summer where I will get to go to the splashpad on a Tuesday morning to miss the crowds that Saturday will bring, a summer where we just might hang up a swing to play with the girls outside, a summer where girls will go from laying to scooting to crawling (and then all heck will break loose), a summer where I will train these babies to sleep, a summer where we will take long walks as a family, a summer where I will have vegetable garden with ripe tomatoes and zucchini, a summer for which I cannot wait. And spring means that the wait is almost over. And so, I love spring.

Here are some pictures of the girls' baptism...first, the four of us with Reverend Hohmann.


the whole crowd of family that helped us celebrate...


Cora with her great-grandma Petersen


the girls in their baptism outfits


This is the dress that I wore for my first Easter. Since we were all November babies, I thought it would neat to see how the girls looked in the same garb...




A couple comparison pics. The first was taken on November 19 - the girls' first trip out of the house to their 1-week doctor's appointments.


Next up, this photo was taken on April 11th...WOW what a difference!


And then, a few more pics...just for fun:


Both the girls found their toes this week...but Evaline is the only one who will provide evidence for the camera.