What's that smell?

So, the girls were down for their nap. Maddie was screaming her head off and I decided to give her her pacie! She had pooped and smeared it on her body like body paint! I know what you are thinking..."that is the grossest thing ever!" Nope! While I was bathing Maddie, Ashley decided to get Ella Grace up because she was awake. Ella Grace had decided to one-up Maddie (as she usually does) and had taken off her diaper and not only pooped but peed all over her bed! Wow, what a smell! Don't worry, there wont be any pictures to help tell the story!

Pictures

Our computer is not cooperating tonight. It won't let me post any pictures. Sorry about that. Check back tomorrow. Rick is going to try to download them from another computer.

Thanks!

Pumpkin Patch

We decided to take the girls to their first pumpkin patch before Halloween this year! They loved it! We took a hay ride, looked at some animals, and then went out into the patch to pick our pumpkins. First, we picked out our big family pumpkin. The girls both tried to pick it up but couldn't so we decided to pick out two little pumpkins for them. We cut Maddie's pumpkin first because she was very interested in it. Rick had her pose with her pumpkin and she loved it. All smiles. Then we picked out Ella Grace's pumpkin. Well, it was nap time and she was very sleepy. She didn't want to have her picture taken with the pumpkin. She refused to look at Rick. He put the pumpkin between her legs and told her if she would just smile we could go. Well, she picked the pumpkin up, set it to the side, and got up. She was not going to have any part in the picture taking. We finally got a picture of her and the pumpkin but she isn't even close to it. I hope that you enjoy the pictures.

Bow Bows

The girls hair has really started growing and they have become obsessed with hair bows. They call them bow bows and think that they can't leave the house without one in their hair. Maddie's hair is still pretty short so it is kind of tricky to get the bow bow to stay in her hair. If it starts to slip she says "Uh, Oh, my bow bow!" It is so cute. Here is a picture of them wearing their PJ's and bow bows! You might be able to see their bedroom shoes too. They are a mess!

A Day In the Yard

It has been a long time since I have posted. Sorry about that! We have been very busy. Here is a picture of Rick pulling the girls behind his lawn mower. They love to play in the yard with their wagon. They take turns pulling each other around but really love it if we pull it. Rick had just finished cutting our grass and decided to take them for a ride in the wagon behind the lawn mower. They loved it!

Last Two Days of Summer!

Monday and Tuesday are the last two days of summer before I have to go back to school. My children have been super cute this morning so I have been taking some pictures. The first one is a picture of Ella Grace doing one of her favorite things to do. She loves to get up in her daddy's recliner and watch cartoons. Then she and Maddie picked out a book and got up on the couch to read them. Being a first grade teacher it makes me very happy for my children to love books. I hope that you enjoy our pictures!

Blow Dryers are Not for Babies

The other morning when I got the girls out of the bathtub I decided to try using the blow dryer on their hair. Well, Ella Grace has the most hair now so I started with her. She sat there so nicely and just let me blow away. Well, the result was so funny. Her hair was sticking up everywhere. I laughed and laughed. The thing is that I couldn't get it stay down so she had stick up hair the rest of the day. Maddie also sat there nicely but her hair didn't stick up.

MMMM...Ice Cream

A few days ago, our friends (Abee and Neil and family) came to our house bearing ice cream. I don't know which child was more covered in it. Here are a couple of pics from that night. Notice Neilie is not pictured because she was obviously the cleanest. First is Claire and then of course Ella Grace and Maddie. You decide who is messiest!! :)

Summer Fun!

Well, since mommy has been out for the summer we have been having alot of fun. I have taken them to the pool twice now with the help of friends. We went with the Chappells and our neighbor that has 2 year old twin girls! That was alot of fun but stressful on mommy. Ella Grace thinks that she can swim and is not cautious at all around water. Maddie on the other hand would rather sit on the top step and just play in the water as if she is in the bathtub! We also went to visit my great aunt in the nursing home. She is 90 years old and is a real joyful lady. Her name is Grace and that is where we got Ella Grace's middle name. The girls enjoyed our visit and found her wheel chair most interesting. They wanted to sit in it and go for a ride. I hope that you enjoy the picture!

Just "monkeying" around!

It has been a long time since I blogged. I usually leave it to Ashley because, let's face it, I have no idea what I am doing. Anyway, I wanted to share a photo of our trip to the Greenville Zoo. We went with the Chappell clan. Abee could not go because she had jury duty, or so she said. Just kidding! We missed her but had fun! Anyway, here is a picture of my best friend (Neil) and our "god-kids" (Neilie and Claire). Enjoy!

After the Party

Well, after the girls birthday was where things started to fall apart. I took them for their 12 month checkup at the doctor and Ella Grace had pink eye. A few days later Maddie had a high fever with cold symptoms. It was a Viral infection that we all developed. Rick's even turned into Pneumonia. This sickness was passed around several times and lasted for the entire month of April and most of May. They had ear infections and colds. Something good did happen though. Ella Grace started walking. They both were running, that is until Maddie fell out of a small chair on May 31 and fractured her shin. That has been an ordeal in itself since it took the doctors over a week to figure out what was wrong with her and how to fix it. She is now in a splint that we can remove for baths, swimming, and sleeping. She is pretty cute! I wish I could post pictures to show you. I also have a video of them feeding themselves yogurt with a spoon for the first time. I think we are all caught up and I will continue to work on posting pictures and videos!

We're Back!!!!

Well, it's been a long time since I have blogged. Alot has happened. I am going to try to post a series of posts to catch everyone up. Let's start with the birthday week! The girls turned 1 on April 2nd! Rick and I were both off that week so we had a great time with the girls. We took them to the zoo on Tuesday of that week. They loved it! We gave them all of their presents from us on their birthday. It was like Christmas in April. They got a kitchen set, baby dolls, baby doll strollers, and a phone! Then, we had their birthday party on the Saturday after their birthday. It was so much fun. We invited family and a few close friends. Ella Grace loved her cake and dug right into it. Maddie loved her cake also but didn't want to get messy. I had to feed it to her with a fork. It was a great day! I will try to post some pictures but sometimes my compter acts crazy!

Easter 2008

Our family had a wonderful Easter weekend! It all started with an Easter Egg hunt at our church on Saturday. The girls loved picking up Easter eggs and the puppet show that followed. They also got to decorate their own cookie and eat it! What a mess! Then, on Sunday we went to our church for the Easter service. We just recently joined a new church and were excited to see what the Easter service was like in a big church! It was wonderful. The girls also love going to the nursery there! After church we ate lunch with Grammy and Grandaddy and visited my great aunt in the nursing home. We just had a wonderful family day. We returned to church Sunday night to hear Larry Ford in concert. That was also wonderful! I hope that you enjoy our Easter pictures!

Our Easter Story

Easter has always been a special time for Rick and I. We have always celebrated Jesus' resurrection on this day. Last Easter was a little different for us though. We didn't get to go to the Easter service at our church like we had done in years past. This was because our beautiful twin daughters were born on April 2nd and Easter was April 8th last year. Some of you may not know the trials that we went through to get our girls home with us. It's not even something that we like to talk about, but it has been on my mind and heart alot lately so I feel that this is the place to share it. I was admitted into the hospital on March 15th which was 31 weeks gestation for the girls. I was in labor. They were able to stop the labor and give me the steroid shots to help the girls lungs develop quicker. At this time the NICU doctors came in to prep us for what was going to most likely happen if the girls were born then. They told us that the girls would most likely have to stay in the NICU until their due date which was May 18th. This was a very scary thing to hear because when you dream about having a baby, no where in your head do you imagine having to leave them at the hospital. Well, I was able to keep the girls inside me for 2 1/2 more weeks. On April 2nd the doctors told me that I was once again in labor. At this point I was 33 1/2 weeks gestation. I had the girls with only a few minor complications and they were wisked away to the NICU. We were able to go and see them 1 hour after I was back in my room. Rick rolled me in my wheel chair to see them in the NICU. There were two tiny babies in two seperate beds surrounded by nurses. I don't even remember the words that they were saying to me, just that my babies were ok. I didn't sleep a wink that night. The next moring I woke my mom up and had her roll me back to the NICU to see my girls. I was able to hold them for the first time. They both had little IV's in their tiny arms and looked pitiful. We made this journey many times a day to see the girls. The doctors recommended that we be there at every feeding. On April 4th I was discharged from the hospital without my babies. This was extremely hard for us. We came home and rested before getting up bright and early the next day to go back to the NICU. This lasted two days before they told us that we could take Maddie home the day before Easter. Ella Grace had to have a feeding tube placed in her nose because she was working too hard to eat and this caused her to lose weight instead of gain. It was very hard to bring one baby home with us and leave the other baby at the hospital all alone. I cried and cried. We brought Maddie home and had a very successful night with her. On Easter Sunday we got up and got Maddie dressed to go to Easter lunch at my parents house. As soon as lunch was over we left Maddie and my parents and went to the hospital to visit with Ella Grace. I will never forget how little she looked with her "Babies First Easter" bib on. The nurses told us that we could probably bring her home the next day. Well, when Monday rolled around she had lost some more weight and they said that she had to stay another day. We were devestated. We once again had to leave Maddie to go and visit Ella Grace. Finally, on Tuesday they told us that we could bring Ella Grace home. I tell you all of this to tell you that Easter now has a different meaning to our family. We are so thankful that God gave us these two healthy, beautiful baby girls! They are truely a miricale. And the fact that we only had to do the NICU for a total of 8 days was a miricale. April 10th sure beat May 18th. I hope that you enjoy our story and get to know a little more about us and what we have been through! Here is a picture of the girls in the NICU the day that we brought Maddie home.

Dreaded Stomach Virus

Yes, we have all had a stomach virus. It started at 3:00 am Friday morning when Ella Grace woke us up throwing up. I took her to the doctor that morning and he told me that it was a stomach virus. Well, we made it through Friday with Ella Grace throwing up every thirty minutes for most of the day. We took her back to the doctor Saturday morning to get a second opinion since she was so lifeless and no one else was sick. Well, little did we know that we were all going to be very sick in just a few short hours. By late Saturday afternoon, Rick, myself, Grammy, and Grandaddy were all sick. It has been a very long two days. Somehow Maddie has managed to escape this so far. Hopefully she will not get it since everyone is on the road to recovery. We will all be glad when this thing has passed. Thanks for thinking of us!

"Need a Lift?"

So, we have been so busy! Maddie has become a very good walker and Ella Grace has become a good rider. She will let Maddie get her from one place to the other in several ways. She likes for Maddie to crawl and she rides on her back like she is riding a horse or something. An easier way for her to get around is to sit on their car and let Maddie push her around the house. Ella Grace is starting to walk more while holding our hand we think that it won't be long before she is walking. They will be 11 months old on Sunday the 2nd! We hope that you enjoy the video.

Our Growing Girls

Our girls are growing so fast. I took them for a well baby checkup on Friday and they are both doing great! Maddie weighed 17.9 lbs and is 27 1/4 inches tall. Ella Grace weighed 16.12 lbs and is 27 inches tall. They are finally on the charts! Here are a few videos of our latest achievements. We hope you enjoy.

The first video is of Ella Grace playing the piano with her daddy. She loves to play with him. Notice how she motions for him to turn the pages every few seconds! How cute!

This video is of Maddie walking. She has been taking one step here and there but tonight she took off. We are so excited that we were able to catch it on camera so that you can enjoy it! Watch out everyone because she is quick!

Airing Our Dirty Laundry

Some people would be ashamed for their "dirty laundry" to be shown to the world. Not us! We are delighted to show you our naughties...girls that is! The girls love to get in their laundry basket. Ashley pushes them around the room and they just laugh their little heads off. It is really hillarious. I hope you all enjoy the video and pics. Take care and have a wonderful evening!

What a Weekend!

Wow! We have had a very busy weekend. On Saturday we went to Greenville to celebrate Nana's birthday! The girls were wonderful and enjoyed eating lots of sweet potato! Sunday was the busiest day of all. We visited a big church near our house with our good friends Jami, Elliott and there sweet baby Eli. We had a wonderful time! The girls stayed in the nursery and seemed to enjoy playing with the other children. Ella Grace especially enjoyed it. She has never been around so many children with hair so she pulled everyone's hair. Oops! We ate lunch with our friends. (Their little boy is just three weeks older than our girls) The church had a Super Bowl tailgating party last night that we also attended. We took the girls wagon and they looked so cute riding in it. Needless to say we were very busy and I didn't get any pictures of the girls. I will try to get one tonight. Hope everyone had a great weekend! Have a good week!

Happy Birthday!

Our girls will be ten months old tomorrow! This is so hard for me to believe because it seems just like yesterday that I was told that I would need to be on bed rest. They have grown so fast. We try to enjoy every minute we can with them. Oh, and by the way, they can also say mama very good. I know the day will come when we wish that they wouldn't say mama and dada so much but for now we really enjoy it. Well, I hope to get a new picture of them up tomorrow! Hope you all have a great day!

I have to say, it is uterly amazing having two beautiful little girs like Maddie and Ella Grace. We are truly blessed parents. Just a few days ago the girls began saying da-da and I have to tell you...it gave me the most incredible feeling! Everyday I try to hug them a little harder to make it last all day. Also, I am truly amazed at the patience and determination that my wife (Ashley) has. She is my hero and I love her with all my heart!!!!

Our First Blog

Well, everyone we know seems to have a blog so we thought that we would give it a shot. We hope that this will be a place that our friends and family can go to get updates on our family. We hope that you enjoy!