Happy New Year 2014!

As many blog posters are apt to do, I dropped off the planet - so to speak - as things got busy (you know, life stuff).  Quite a few things happened in 2013...but probably the biggest will likely necessitate a blog title name change.  :)

So, as a new years' resolution, I will try to update this more regularly.  In the meantime....Happy New Year!

"There She Is!"

My dad started this back during Thanksgiving, and Hazel really seemed to like it, so now we play this game at our house.  We'll take a burpcloth, put it over the girls' head, and ask "Where's....Hazel (or Abby)?"  She pulls off the cloth, and Hazel (or Abs) shoots a big grin when we say "THERE she is!"

Look Out, World

We had 10 months, 23 days (8 months, 6 days adjusted).  But now it's started.  Abby has figured out how to crawl!  I think Hazel is probably only a few days behind, too - she's going to have to learn quick for self defense purposes, as Abs will now stroll crawl over and grab whatever toy Hazel happens to have.

Eye Appointment Followup...An Exercise in Patience

While the girls were in the NICU, the doctors performed weekly/biweekly checks on the girls' eyes to make sure they did not develop retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which is an eye disease that can affect preemies.  After several months of constant checkup, the NICU doctor officially released them from his care under the condition they received a followup checkup at nine months in February 2013.

Super Bowl Shuffle

The girls enjoyed their first ever Super Bowl yesterday!  We had a small group of friends over (and had entirely too much food, as always), so I think the girls focused more on the attention from people instead of the game (or the commercials).  Their football onesies still fit, though, so at least they looked the part!  :)

Playing Well With Others

The girls began to notice each other a few months ago, but it has been in the last few weeks that they really seem to be interaction more with each other.  Of course, this primarily involves either Abby grabbing Hazel's bib (which has caused both of them to lose their balance and topple over) or one of the girls deciding she really wants the other's toy.  But you also get cute sisterly moments, too.  :)

Crib Escapades

Now that the girls are much more agile and mobile (although not yet crawling), watching them on the monitor has gotten to be hilarious.  And it also means we had to lower the mattress a few weeks ago!

Playtime

One of Hazel and Abby's favorite toys is the exersaucer.  Both of them *love* bouncing in that thing!  I was able to get a cute video of the two of them together - they look so serious playing with all of the toys and attachments on those things!  And, while the video was rolling, Abs decided to tell us what she was doing:

Sister Takedown!

Before putting the girls to bed one day last week, I decided to do a quick photo shoot.  It is so much easier to do now that the girls can sit up, but the eternal problem of getting them to look at the same time (and smile at the same time too) reared its head.  But it does make for some cute pictures and video!

January Recap

This month FLEW by.  Where did the time go?  I planed to post more than three times this month, but things - you know, life - intervened.  So, here's a brief recap and photo dump from the past month:

10 Months Old (several days ago!)

It's hard to believe the girls were *10* months old on January 12th!  In keeping with recent happenings, turns out we had a party to go to on the same day ... this time for our friends' son's second birthday.  So after spending a laid-back Saturday afternoon at home, we loaded up the girls and headed over to Gymboree for the party.

Happy New Year!

My, wasn't 2012 a whirlwind?  It ended on a good note (despite the rain and coldness of the day); we put the girls to bed, made an impromptu batch of chocolate chip cookies, and watched movies on HBO.  And, thanks to some people in our neighborhood, we watched live fireworks from the comfort of our own couch.

Budding Monets

For Christmas presents to the grandparents this year, we decided to make pottery with handprints and footprints of the girls.  SO much easier said than done!  We went over to Cafe Monet, where you can paint pre-made pottery and then they fire/glaze it for you.  Pretty cool - I had never been there before, but had always wanted to go.

Recapping Christmas, Part III

Christmas Day in Dallas started off rainy and cold.  I ran over to Starbucks and grabbed all of us some warm drinks, and then we spent a leisurely day playing with the girls, eating some great food, and opening presents.  About mid afternoon, the rain turned into SNOW, so we ended up having a white Christmas!!!  It was beautiful (but I was happy we didn't have to go anywhere in it).

Recapping Christmas, Part II

On Christmas Eve, we went over to my parents house, and while we were there Annette came by to visit the girls.  Three Annettes in one house, and all born in March!  :)

Recapping Christmas, Part I

The Christmas recap is broken up into three posts, mainly due to all of the cute pictures.... ;)

We trekked up to Dallas for the Christmas holiday, and spent an enjoyable few days with Matt's family (since Thanksgiving was predominately Griffin-related, it seemed more than fair).  The girls loved all of the attention, and especially loved playing with tissue and wrapping paper! Abby, in particular, repeatedly attempted to eat the paper (she's a very intent little person). :)

Santa, Babies

Back in November, we took the girls to a mini-photo shoot with Santa.  The pictures were taken by Gwen (of Be True Photography - betruephotography.com), who also did our pumpkin patch pictures.

Fortunately, unlike our last visit with Gwen, Hazel wasn't completely against the idea of pictures, but overall she didn't seem to happy or thrilled with the idea.  Abs took a while to warm up to the idea, but soon enough she (not surpisingly) went into "full charm/smiling" mode.  :)

"Buh-Bye"

As Karen was leaving tonight (Monday), she said and waved goodbye the girls, as she always does.  This time, though, Abby said "bye" back!

Papaw Visit!

Papaw visited us the girls this weekend (on the way to a MTV hearing south of San Antonio).  They seemed pretty excited to see him.  He got to help feed Hazel, which ended up being hilarious for all involved.  And I took some cute pictures, too.  Of course!

NINE Months Plus Other Celebrations on 12-12-12

The girls are NINE months old today!  Where did the time go????  Seems like I was pregnant with them only a second ago.  And yet here they are, growing, smiling, sitting up, and about to celebrate their first Christmas.