My new niece!

This weekend we went to Peterborough to meet the newest member of the Lackie family: Heather and Sean's baby girl Brianna.  She is so tiny and adorable. Here are a few pics from our visit.

Have you ever seen a happier baby?

Addison, James and Josie

Their perfect family!  Sean, Heather and Brianna

My other adorable niece Addy

Uncle Scott

Our beautiful babies

Our babies are just so darn cute.  I have made it my mission to photograph them whenever I can.  Here are a few good ones from this afternoon.

James in our backyard tree!

This is day 4 of the babies eating sweet potato.  James has gotten pretty good at it.  Josie not so much.  But she loves chewing on the spoon.

Father's Day

This past weekend we celebrated Brian's first Father's Day.  The twins made him this picture.

This past weekend I also completed my first triathlon.  I did this same race last year when I was 2.5 months pregnant.  This year Brian brought the babies to cheer me on and I won my age group.  

The twins had another great weekend at the cottage.  Josie is a little small for Emily's high chair.

James loves the beach!

Back at home we are continuing with rice cereal.  We are up to twice a day and the babies now swallow about half of what I try to put in their mouths.  This picture is from Tuesday when they tried rice rusks for the first time.  James did pretty well with his.

Today we met cousin Joan and went swimming at Clarkson CC.  The pool there is warm and has lots of toys.  The babes had a great time.

We also got the twins a Jolly Jumper last week. James hasn't quite figured out the jumping part but he loves to be in it.  Josie on the other hand is a natural.  We've actually seen quite an improvement in her leg strength this week.

Brian's first Father's Day!

We finished Father's Day off with A BBQ with the Allen's.  This was Dave's first Grandpas Day!

My good deed for the day

Today I donated over 1200 oz of frozen breast milk to the Ontario Human Milk Bank (that's about 38 litres).  It will be thawed, pasteurized and then given to premies and medically fragile babies at Sick Kids, Sunnybrook and Mount Sinai Hospitals.  

The twins also came with me to vote today so they have now participated in their first election.  

Today was day 3 of Rice cereal.  They are still not swallowing very much of it but they are tolerating it being spooned into their mouths a bit more.

6 months old!

I can hardly believe that James and Josie are 6 months old.  It's been such a whirlwind, I don't even think I remember most of it.

To celebrate turning 6 months old we had 2 photoshoots.  One yesterday and one this morning.  

Today the twins had their 6 month check up and immunizations.  Thankfully I had Grandpa with me.  The Dr. Confirmed that overall they are healthy babies who are growing well. James is a whopping 14 lbs 1 oz.  This puts his weight in the 3% for his birthday.  His height is in the 15% and his head circumference is in the 40%.  

Josie is still a dainty little princess weighing in at 11lbs 5 oz (she gained a pound this month!).  Her weight is in the 0.1%.  Her height is in the 3% and her head circumference is in the 15%.

 (If you are really following this blog you will remember that at Josie's 4 month check up at Credit Valley Hospital her head was in the 40%.  Don't worry she is not shrinking.  The hospital bases their percentiles on her due date and the Dr. bases her percentiles on her birthdate.)

The Dr. Recomended that we start the babies on iron fortified cereal right away.  We tried this during dinner tonight.  Not only did both babies spit up about 96% on the spot.  They both puked in their sleep tonight.  I think tomorrow I will try it with them earlier in the day.  Here is a funny picture of our attemp at feeding them tonight.

This past six months have been the hardest and most rewarding 6 months of my life.  Brian has always been a great husband and now he is also an amazing Dad.  We are so blessed to have been given these incredible little babies.  They are happy, healthy, sweet little monkeys - I couldn't wish for anything more.

Another fabulous weekend

The twins managed to keep themselves busy this week.  We went for lots of walks, they played with Vanessa and Nancy at the daycare at the gym everyday and Tuesday had a visit with the Hazzards.  

We spent another great weekend at our family's cottage on Lake Erie.  James and Josie spent pretty much all their time outside either in their stroller for walks or playing on the grass in front of the cottage.  They were showered with attention all weekend because they had their Grandparents and their Aunt Jenn and Uncle Kevin there.  

 Chillin with Aunt Jenn

 My cool dude.

At the Hazzard's on Tuesday James got to try Gabe's Jolly Jumper.  He liked it so much we went out and got our own.  

The twins are happiest in the morning.  This is how they wake up every day.  Melts my heart.

Turning 30

The Allens have had another great week.  The twins both achieved a few milestones.  Josie rolled over from back to front for the first time on Tuesday (this is the first time Josie has beat James to a physical milestone!).  Not to be outdone, on Saturday James sat up unassisted for the first time.  They continue to be happy, healthy babies that are so full of smiles and giggles.
On Friday Brian took James to see a paediatric ophthalmologist at Credit Valley Hospital.   We noticed a few months ago that in low light one of his pupils dilates a lot more than the other.  Our family Dr. said that it was nothing to worry about but we wanted to be sure.  Thankfully James' eyes are perfectly healthy.  The Dr. said that he sees this about once a week and that although he will probably always have this it is not affecting his vision.

The twins also got a special treat this weekend.  They got to see all of their God Parents!  On Friday night we all went to a party hosted by James Aitchison so the twins got to have some time with their God Fathers James and Pat.  On Saturday the twins got to see their God Mothers Kathryn and Victoria.

 

On Saturday night we had a few of our closest friends over for a party to celebrate me turning 30.  It was a wonderful night and I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends.  The babies were very cooperative for us and only got up once around 1 am.

The rest of my birthday was spent relaxing at home with my little ones.  I know that I am biased but they are the cutest kids in the entire world and I am just so lucky to be their mom.  Looking back I feel like I accomplished a lot in my 20's.  I earned a B.A from Brock and a B.Ed. from Trent, met and married my soulmate, met the Geogirls who will always be amazing friends, travelled to over 20 countries, landed my dream job, bought my dream house and had James and Josie to make my life complete.  My 20's were all about me and Brian and I am so excited that my 30's will be all about my 2 little monkeys and the family traditions, memories and adventures we are going to create.