Lunch Date with Grampy

We were lucky to have a quick lunch date with Grampy today while he was in town on business! Caroline was acting very shy curing his visit, so she wouldn't let me take a picture of her and Grampy together, but I did manage to take a few pictures.
Caroline and Grampy spent some time coloring at our lunch table and also giggling over a tasty (and enormous!) cookie. We're looking forward to when Marmee and Grampy come in town over Easter weekend so Caroline can have more time to "let it all hang out" and really show Grampy her stuff!

Caroline and Mommy

Grampy knows how to make me happy - with a cookie!

Mmm, delicious!


Caroline saying bye-bye to Grampy after lunch. See you soon!

Twin Update

We had an appointment today to check in on the twins. Caroline had to miss her nap time and come with me to the appointment, which could have been a recipe for disaster, but she was a complete angel. She chatted with the ultrasound technician, stared open-jawed at our loud doctor, and played with every (germ infested) toy she could find in the doctor's office. Fingers crossed the twins will be so easy-going!!

Anyways, the girls looked wonderful. Their heartbeats and growing space are great and they weighed in at 1 pound, 3 ounces a piece!! The doctor told me this is as much as a single baby would weigh at this point, so needless to say, the girls are growing well! Although they are still changing positions a lot these days, today the girls were sitting "upright", with their heads together - getting in some "girl talk". By the way, just in case you were wondering, the cat is out of the bag for the sex of twins, so there's no need for us to censor this post. :)

Mommy looks good too, although the doctor warned me to keep up the good eating and not to hold back. Seriously?! Has he seen the amount of food I consume on a daily basis?? Obviously not, but considering that someone asked me yesterday if I was due any day now, I think I'm growing large just fine, thank you :)

That's about it! We're so glad the girls are looking good and growing well. Here are some pictures from today's visit.

Baby Girl A - thumb in mouth

Baby Girl B - could not get this pic to rotate horizontally!

View from the top: two heads together for a little chat!

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Hepper

  We enjoyed a great visit with Grandma and Grandpa Hepper this past weekend! Caroline got to spend lots of one on one time with her grandparents, giving Mommy and Daddy a much needed break!
  On Thursday evening, Mommy and Daddy went to an Expecting Multiples class while Caroline hung out at home and got reacquainted with her grandparents. Mommy and Daddy learned some good information about getting ready for the arrival of the twins, but we are still glad we have at least a couple months left to prepare!
  On Friday, Caroline went to the downtown location of the children's museum and then out to lunch where she impressed Grandma and Grandpa with her quesadilla eating skills! Mommy enjoyed several hours to herself getting a little pampering done :)
  On Saturday we decided to take a group trip out to Short Pump to check out that location of the children's museum. Caroline had a blast going from exhibit to exhibit, and even took a moment to create a painting "masterpiece" for her grandparents to take home.
Aside from many tasty meals out, we pretty much spent the rest of our time together letting Caroline be our entertainment. She did lots of coloring, goofing off, music making, and playing with Grandpa and Grandma. Check out some of the pictures we took throughout the weekend...

Caroline driving Grandpa in the truck at the farm exhibit.

Mommy and Caroline riding the whale at the museum.

Caroline hard at work on her painting.

Caroline, Grandma and Grandpa

Caroline and Daddy on the train at the museum.

Caroline and Grandma playing "Ring Around the Rosy" with Baby Nina and Baby Gigi/

Family pic!!

It Only Took a Minute...

... for our little peanut to make a big mess this morning. I was folding laundry in the bedroom when I heard Caroline say "ooh-ooh" - her way of saying "uh-oh". I went immediately to her, knowing this probably wasn't good. And this is what I found:

A good portion of the 20 pound dog food bag all over the laundry room floor and...

...the dogs' water bowl "enhanced" with dog food, courtesy of Caroline.

Yes, I made a huge mess, Mommy, but I looked cute doing it!!

Of course, because Caroline takes after her Mommy and loves to clean, she was more than happy to be part of the dog food recovery.

Unfortunately, her method was to pick up each piece one, by one, by one. As you might imagine, this took forever. By the time I had the mess cleaned up, Caroline had collected about 2 tablespoons of dog food. Oh well - at least she was willing to help, right?

Busy Day, Busy Girl

  Last Friday was a picture perfect day here in Richmond. It was sunny and warm - a high of 80! Caroline and I enjoyed every last bit of the fantastic weather. Thank goodness Aunt Donna just supplied us with tons of sunscreen - we needed it! We started our day by meeting our friends Aly and Wingrove for a walk, playground visit, and lunch.
  After Caroline took an abbreviated nap (the only not-so-great part of our day), we spent the afternoon sunbathing in the front yard, playing with sidewalk chalk, collecting sticks, and chatting with our neighbors. Daddy even came home around 5:30 and enjoyed some outdoor play time too!
  Frances and Isabel were quite distressed that they could not join in the outdoor fun. In a moment of pity for them, I let them out onto the front porch. Big mistake! Within 5 minutes, a  big cat came wandering across the street and in the blink of an eye, Isabel and Frances were gone. Luckily, Isabel couldn't resist saying "hello" to our neighbors, and so she was quickly caught and sent back inside. Frances was determined to enjoy her adventure though and spent about 25 minutes frolicking around before she decided to come home. Caroline, ever the helper, was determined to rein Frances in. She wasn't successful, but I got some video of her scolding Frances while trying to lure her in with the treat jar.

After our morning out with friends - this was the reason for the abbreviated nap. Apparently, a five minute snooze in the car counts for at least an hour in nap time!

Collecting sticks: a favorite hobby these days.

Mish Mash of Pictures

We've not done anything super exciting this week, but I do have some cute pictures to share anyways.

The first few are from last weekend when we enjoyed a fantastic night with our best Richmond friends, the Benjamins and the Kinards. There's always good food, and lots of laughter and fun when we get together (there used to be lots of adult drinks too, but that's left to the men these days).

Anyways, Caroline had a blast because she got to see big Caroline and Hailey.

Dinner with the girls.

Playing so nicely with Hailey.

Giving one of her best friends a squeeze.

The next picture is of Caroline after a visit to the library. Both Caroline and Mommy are big readers, so we go to the library about once a week. As you can see, Caroline couldn't wait until she got home to start reading.

What a cutie!

This last picture is of Caroline being a couch potato: slurping up a yogurt tube and catching the latest episode of Dora the Explorer!

I Stand Corrected

Not for the first time in my career as a mother, I stand corrected by our darling daughter. After another rough night, I decided to take her to the doctor this morning and discovered that she has a nasty ear infection. That would account for the unusually fussy behavior over the last several days. Poor thing. She is now on antibiotics and ear numbing medication and hopefully we'll have her back on her feet (and out of Mommy's arms!) in no time.

In other news, I forgot to post more pics of the twins the other day. The trouble is, for all the bajillion pictures we have of them, there are very few that are actually any good. They all seem blurry and a little alien-ish. Regardless, I found a couple that are (somewhat) post-worthy. Enjoy!

Twin A face and hand "wave"

Twin B face

Twin B - hand to mouth.