Flashback Friday: Hanging Out At Home
Two little critters, Karlie and Brina, who are talking, laughing, and giggling when it is suppose to be nap time.
Today’s Flashback Friday goes back on October 2005 when the girls were 8 months old. They have started babbling a lot more and discovered that they could get our attention when they shriek. Brina especially had a shrill screech she would make followed by lots of giggles. The first time she did it she surprised herself so of course she decided to just do it more.
They are happy babies. We tried to do some fun Fall activities with them this year. They didn’t understand everything we were doing, but were always up for an adventure. They were my little cuddle bugs. Love my sweet girls.
Karlie and Brina very excited about the cool John Deere books Daddy brought home for them!
Brina giving one of her shrill screeches….wish I could transfer it into an audio on this picture.
Karlie is all smiles as she plays
Brina talking with Mommy. While I couldn’t understand what she was saying at this point she loved to happily chat away.
Karlie cutting some more teeth and drooling like crazy, but still a sweet happy baby.
Brina decided that she was going to steal my camera
Karlie in charge of Mommy’s water cup, so proud of her big girl duty! She didn’t even tip it.
Brina loves the riding toys! Anything to keep moving!
What’s up Karlie rabbit! Not sure about these glasses Mom!
Brina our little two finger sucker.
Daddy’s first work trip away since the girls were born to Plano, Texas! It was so good to have him back home again.
They are so happy first thing in the morning. It is cute hearing giggles from their crib in the mornings – Karlie and Brina
Brina and Karlie crashed in their seats
Playing is one of their favorite activities! Brina chewing on a toy and Karlie looking up to smile at Mommy!
Flashback Friday: Sleepy Kids
Brina crashed in the middle of chewing in the ring
Today’s Flashback Friday goes back 10 years when the girls were 6 months old. They were exploring more and falling to sleep in random places. Sometimes in the middle of playing with a toy. I tried to move them a few times, but every time I did they would wake up so I just decided to leave them and let them rest. Usually the random naps were small power naps and they were back to playing within a few minutes anyway.
They are beginning to be more mobile and it took more energy to keep up with them. It is so precious watching them sleep peacefully even if it is in their high chair at a weird angle. Oh to be that flexible again.
At this time they are still sleeping in the same crib. As they grow and move around more in their sleep the crib it starting to get a little more chummy, but they look so sweet sleeping together I wasn’t ready to move them into separate cribs quite yet. Occasionally we would come to check on them in the morning and we would see that during the night they scooted down in the crib until their feet were hanging out. Not sure how it was comfortable, but they didn’t wake up or seem to mind it.
When we checked on this morning their were two sets of titty bitty toes sticking out from their crib. It was all I could do not to squeeze those cute little toes, but they were sleeping so peacefully.
Brina fast asleep in her hair chair. Such a rough life. Love how she folds her hands together sometimes when she sleeps.
Brina and Karlie – sleepy babies.
Taking a snooze during their play time with Mr. Octopus – Brina and Karlie
Playing is such hard work for the little ones – Karlie and Brina
Brina fell asleep while playing in her exersaucer!
She woke up with some sleepy “toy lines” on her face. Poor baby!
Playing in the exersaucers is exhausting. Both have crashed during their play time.
How can that be comfortable Karlie!? Not sure how she was still sleeping so soundly with her legs sticking out like that? I think my feet with get cold and go numb. Guess that’s the fun of being a baby.
Flashback Friday: Exhausting Day
Must have been an exhausting day!
Our Flashback Friday goes back to April 2005 when the girls were almost 2 months old. Jake and the girls were playing while I was making dinner. When I came back to check on them this is what I discovered. Everyone was napping peacefully. Must have been a busy day for the crew. Maybe it is all those middle of the night feedings interrupting our sleep.
Thankful for my family and the blessings in my life. They look so peaceful when they are sleeping. Those first few months were especially tiring for Jake and I. I am not sure how he did everything. He got up every night to help me with feeding the girls and then go work a full day. There weren’t a lot of parties and late night fun activities other than taking care of babies during this season of our life.
Flashback Friday: Sharing, Sleeping, & Surgery
Brina and Karlie sharing a pacifier
Today our Flashback Friday hits when the girls were only between 1 – 2 months old after coming home from NICU. They shared everything and could sleep peacefully in the most unusual positions. It was much easier to get their pictures at this stage because they were not mobile yet. Thankful for these little blessings. It doesn’t seem like these days were that long ago.
They were preemies and came home on heart / apnea monitors for the first few months. You can see the wires coming out of their clothes in many of the early pictures. We never had to worry about them stopping breathing because the monitors would always alarm if they did. It wasn’t long before we got used to it.
During this time Karlie also had to go back into the hospital to have surgery. Her stomach wasn’t getting the milk she was drinking and she was throwing up after feeding. It was pretty scary taking our little one back in for surgery. Watching her being wheeled off to the operating room in the huge crib broke my heart. Thankful for Doctors and their help during this time.
Baby sleeping pile
Somehow Karlie managed to scoop herself until her bottom was against the wall and had her feet resting up on the wall while snoozing away.
Karlie resting after surgery with her huge IV bandage
Brina hanging out in the pillow. She thought it was pretty cool standing up at first, but decided after a few minutes she would rather be free.
Starting off with a BANG….
Neat pictures - parts of airplanes at the Marriott. We left for our exciting cruise vacation late on a Friday afternoon. We were all packed, loaded in the van, and ready to go only to discover the van would not start. Oh BOY! Not again, the van has already been in the shop two times in the last couple of months. After a quick call to Jake I tried to explain the situation to the girls. They were in tears because they were super excited about starting their vacation together with friends while we were on the cruise.
We decided to all head back inside and have fun while waiting for Daddy to come home. We read a couple books together as we were waiting. Brina picked out a book about a Ballerina and Karlie picked out “The Empire’s New Clothes”. After reading the books we took a few minutes to snuggle and talk. We did a few extra chores around the house then Jake was home. Looking back it was nice to have a few moments of quiet and relaxing time together before leaving. He was able to jump start the van and away we went only a little over an hour off schedule.
We got the girls settled into their new home for the week. They were excited about spending their vacation with friends and had been looking forward to it for a long time. Jake and I started our first leg of our trip together as a couple. The van was a little quiet without the girls giggling and talking in the back but we enjoyed our time together.
On the way we stopped at Flying J for a potty break and to pick up a snack for breakfast the next morning at the airport. We were flying out early and getting checked in and through the security could take up any extra time so we wanted to be prepared. We had a quick but nice supper at Arby’s. It is always smart to bring coupons on vacation with you because you never know where you might stop to eat. It is amazing how much you can save over the course of a trip by using coupons.
The roads under the bridges were still icy from the snow storm earlier that week but we made it safely to Atlanta and checked into
for the night. They have a wonderful program we have used several times where you park your vehicle at the hotel and they drive you to the airport which costs less then parking even in the long term parking at the airport. You can park even if you are not planning on spending the night at the hotel. This was the first time we used it and spent the night. Since we spent the night our parking was free for a week and it was still less then parking at the airport. Plus with the flight leaving early in the morning we wanted to make sure we were at the airport on time. Marriott had a shuttle going to and from the airport every 15 minutes making it convenient to catch a ride when you wanted to leave for the airport. We did all the planning for this ahead of time and reserved the room and parking online. Love being able to get things done before ever leaving on vacation. Many other cities provide this service as well so it may be worth checking into before you fly the next time if you cannot have someone drive you, it really has saved us a lot of money over the last few years.
Jake and I had a wonderful couple hours to relax before getting a good nights sleep. We don’t have a TV in our room at home so we surfed the channels for a few minutes and ended up watching “Bill Cosby’s Himself”. I had never seen it before, for an example of the show click here. It was nice to relax together and just laugh listening to Bill Cosby. We had no where to be until the morning so we relaxed!
A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Go with a good attitude and looking for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Book: “My Good Night Devotions” by Susan Lingo
We purchased “My Good Night Devotions” by Susan Lingo at Goodwill for $0.25 after reading through a couple stories, our copy has a couple markings in it but otherwise in great condition. It has 45 devotional stories for kids. The girls LOVE it! Each lesson has a short scripture verse, a story, thinking time (with a 1 to 3 questions), prayer and sleeping time game or activity for them to go to bed thinking about. Brina and Karlie’s favorite character is “Night Light” a little firefly that is hidden in each picture and throughout the devotional. If you are looking for a neat devotional that shows how God’s Word works in everyday situations for your young kids check out this book.
