Don't try this at home

Felicity: Elyse and I like to climb on all kinds of things lately.  I realized today that if I stand in the bouncy seat, it bounces!  Mom says we're going to have to put the bouncy seats in storage now that we've outgrown them, but it was sure fun to have one last bounce!

And just to jog your memory, here's what we looked like in our bouncy seats on the day we came home from the hospital.  Oh how we've grown!

Halloween Party!

As you can see from the previous post, we were two peas in the pods for our Halloween costumes and we really liked wearing them.  But just in case we hated our costumes, and because we couldn't crawl in them, Mommy had us wear our Packer cheerleading outfits as costume B, underneath costume A.  For Daddy, this was the perfect costume for Halloween, and for Mommy, being a Packer cheerleader is about as scary a costume as anything!

Here we are playing with our cousin Peter, waiting for the trick-or-treaters:

We headed outside our house to wait for the other kids to come to our door for trick-or-treating (and we wanted to show off our costumes):

We waited...

and waited...

and waited...

And we were VERY disappointed that we only had 5 groups of older kids come to our door!  There are lots and lots of kids in our neighborhood,  so we don't know where they all went!  This was a real bummer as we had TONS of candy to hand out and no one to give it too!  We still had fun hanging out in our costumes and playing with our friends Peter, Kate, and Megan.  

The Little Pea Pods

We absolutely LOVED our costumes!  Even though we couldn't crawl in them, we loved being all bundled up and were excited to look so silly!

After all, we really are two peas in a pod! 

A little Halloween field trip

Before we got all dressed up in our Halloween costumes, we went on a little field trip with our Minnesota visitors to Mount Vernon.  But of course, to take full advantage of our first Halloween, we wore these pumpkin shirts.  It took us a minute to get used to the idea of being pumpkins...mostly because we knew people would say "oh twins! Are they boys?" just because we're not wearing pink--it is SO ANNOYING! To help alleviate this confusion, we wore our black patent-leather mary-jane dress shoes for a little extra pizzaz.  Are you absolutely sure about this, Mom?

Felicity: I can definitely do happy pumpkin! 

Elyse: You can be the happy pumpkin, Felicity.  I'll just stick with my usual serious self.

Felicity: Do what you gotta do, Elyse.  I'm on the move, just one happy little pumpkin!

Kate and Dan enjoying the first GW's place:

Elyse: It is just starting to look like fall around here.  I think the leaves and river look so beautiful!

Elyse: I can be pretty silly sometimes.  Here I am trying to escape out the back of the stroller!

Overall, we had a very fun day at the Washingtons' house! 

Friends from far off places

This week we are so excited to have one of our Mommy's oldest friends here visiting from Minnesota.  Kate and her husband Dan are here on a little vacation visiting friends (they have a few in the area) and seeing the sights.  We have been lucky enough to spend two days with them and then next week we're all going to the National Zoo (pictures to come, of course!).

We all had fun hanging out on the pier in Old Town along the Potomac River:

Elyse: I'm having a bit of trouble with strangers lately, but I wasn't scared of Dan and Kate at all!  Dan is very goofy and we both really like being silly with him!

Felicity: We had fun sitting on the pier watching the water, the boats, the birds, and watching lots of people walk by.  For a long time, however, I had fun examining the big buttons on Kate's coat!

9-Month Check-up

The doctor has given us a clean bill of health!  She said that you'd never know that we were 2 months early by how we are developing.  That's great news!  Here are our stats:

Elyse: 16 lbs 10 oz (25-50th percentile)

26 3/4 inches long (50th percentile)

Felicity: 16 lbs 13 oz (25-50th percentile)

27 1/4 inches long (75th percentile)

The doctor was very impressed that we can crawl and pull up on furniture and get wherever we want to go.  As you can see from our stats, Elyse has now closed the gap with Felicity and we are only 3 oz apart!  (From earlier months, we were more than a pound apart).  We are very happy to report that we are healthy little ladies.

And on a funny side note, the doctor entered the room and asked Mommy if she was going it alone.  Mommy said no, we have a very involved Daddy, to which she replied that we must not be from around these parts and laughed...and then said, "no, I meant, do you have help?  Like a nanny!" To which she went on to say that we were very nice people (apparently also indicative of not being from around here) and guessed that we had to be from the South or the Midwest because we were nice and our Mommy was doing a great job of being with us alone all day.  We all had a good laugh about it! (And our new doctor is very nice, although we still miss our very first doctor in Colorado--because, well, she was our first pediatrician!).   

Our First Visit to the Park

We've decided that on a beautiful fall Sunday afternoon, there's nothing better than a trip to the park!  And how convenient that we have a playground across the street.  Here's a picture we like to call "Tangled Twins in a Tunnel":

Felicity: I just LOVED exploring the tunnel! I could crawl back and forth and slide around.  I can't wait to do it again!  Elyse, as you can see, would just crawl one direction or another to get to the closest lap of Mommy and Daddy.  

Elyse: Excuse me, Mom? Is that lap available?  I'd like to sit there...

Felicity: Who needs a hat on a balmy fall day?  Not me!

Who can get to Daddy's lap first?  Let's race!

Felicity: This cool contraption had three planes on it and it bounced up and down.  Elyse and I each took a plane and we wanted to keep bouncing and bouncing and bouncing!

There is so much cool stuff at this place!

Daddy, look at me!  I'm so big!

Elyse: I just loved sliding part way down the big-kid slide on my tummy.  Can't you tell how much fun I'm having?!

Felicity: I got a little distracted on the slide by this cool leaf.  There's so much to explore at the playground!

Conquering the Stairs

Elyse: This pic isn't one of Mom's greatest, but if you squint, and look on the bottom part of my gums, you can see my first tooth!  I don't really like it when people go poking around in my mouth, so Mom had a tough time getting this shot (or so she tells me).  

Now that we can crawl all over and pull ourselves up on furniture and such, we figured it was time to attack the BIG, OMINOUS monster of a mountain (otherwise known as the stairs).  

Elyse: Below, you can see what I like to do after I make it up the landing and onto the first stair.  I like to sit, and gloat over my crowning achievement of course!  In the above picture, I'm inviting Felicity to join me.  Come on, sis, it's a great view from up here!

Felicity: Climbing is so much fun! I can't wait to tackle all of the stairs!  Apparently, Mom says that will take a long time to learn.  Until then, I'll keep practicing!

Jail Break!

Just a few short weeks ago we were content to wake up in our cribs and hang out quietly until it was time for our naps to be over.  But now, well...now is just a whole different story!

Felicity: Yes, Mom, I'm ready to explore the world!  Can you hurry things up here?

Elyse: I'm ready to blow this popsicle stand!

9 Months Old!

Today is our 9 month birthday!  Time just flies by!  Not only are we busy crawling everywhere (no more scooting, we're talking bona-fide crawling!), but now we are pulling ourselves up on the furniture!  This is opening up a whole new world for us! And sadly, we must say good-bye to our wonderful crib Winnie the Pooh mobiles.  Mom says that now that we could theoretically reach them (yeah right, we're not THAT talented!), they pose some sort of hazard.  So much for counting Piglets and Eeyores to drift off into dreamland...  

Fun, fun, fun!

We have our 9 month check-up next week.  We'll be sure to let you know how that goes and how much we're weighing these days.  

Weekend Adventures

Last Friday we loaded up all of our stuff in the car and drove to our friends' house who live just outside of Pittsburgh, PA.  It was a marvelous weekend for Mommy and us.  Here is a taste of all of our adventures:

Meet Todd and Annie, they are our wonderful friends (and we were their little glimpse into life with babies!).  Mommy met them when she lived in MN.  Now they live in PA and we only had to drive 5 hours to see them!  And because Todd grew up in the area we live in now, we'll see them a lot when they come to visit family. 

Elyse: It took me a while to warm up to the whole idea of staying in an unfamiliar place, but by Monday when we left, I was having a grand old time!  I was unsure about Todd (he is a crazy guy), but then I realized he is lots of fun and his silliness started to grow on me.

Todd is the head soccer coach at a private college and we got to go to our first soccer game on Friday night!  It was a little chilly, but after getting cozy in our pajamas, we mostly slept through the game.  Here we are on Sunday after a tour around campus:

Felicity: We were busy little bees this weekend, so on Sunday afternoon, we all needed a little nap!

Felicity: Todd is just my kind of goofy kind of guy.  Here I am keeping my toes warm in his slippers.  Big shoes to fill for sure!

Felicity: Here Todd is teaching me how to kick a ball like all cool soccer players do.  I think with a little practice, I'll be rocking the soccer field in no time!

Elyse: On Saturday we had a fun shopping trip and tour of some of the greater Pittsburgh area.  Here we are all very happy (which was good because I was a little testy on Friday because I'm fighting a cold AND I cut my first tooth! Whew! Being little is pretty hard sometimes!).

Elyse: A happy break from being a little out of sorts from teething:

Felicity: Here I am trying out one of my winter hats at the soccer game.  Definitely a great fashion choice with the pjs!

Thanks Todd and Annie for all of the fun and hospitality!  We had a great trip! 

And to all of our faithful blog readers, we are down with pretty nasty colds (Mommy too), so keep us in your prayers! :0) Let's just say Mommy won't have time for re-upholstering chairs this week!