Check Up

Earlier this week I met Aaron's cousin, April, to try and get some pictures in the bluebonnets. Not too easy when the twins don't sit for long periods of time. We tried though!We went to the doctor today for 6 month shots...so much fun! Bethany now weighs 15 pounds, 9 ounces and she's 26.5 inches long. Zachary weighs 16 pounds, 12 ounces (quite a bit more than her) and he's 26 inches long.

Bethany Elaine

Happy half birthday to the big sister! I'm sure she will always hold it over her brother's head that she was born first. Bethany's name actually came from the name of the city in Oklahoma where my Great Grandma lived. Elaine means "light" and is also my mom's middle name. She's definitely my light and always has a smile on her face when I go to get her out of bed. Bethany also is independent and doesn't like to be cuddled much. She'd rather be put to bed with her mobile on, sucking her thumb! Bethany's usually one step ahead of Zachary. She can roll over and sit up very well! She'll also eat most anything, but squash isn't her favorite. I think anything sweet makes her happy, so applesauce seems to be a good breakfast! She's been "talking" a lot lately, and because she's so darn cute, I couldn't decide which 6 month picture I liked better. So we got them both :)

Zachary Evan

It's time to celebrate half birthdays. Wow! Zachary was born second, just a minute after his sister. He weighed about 8 ounces less, but he's quickly passed Bethany up in size! Zachary means "God has remembered" and Evan means "God is good" and I think they fit him perfectly. He's my cuddle bug and likes to be rocked to sleep by ME! You know, I don't mind because we waited so long to have these babies. I treasure the moments I get to love on them! Zachary learned to smile, laugh, and eat like a champ before Bethany. He's a little bit lazier when it comes to learning how to roll over. He'll eat pretty much anything I give him...except peas! I've mixed them with sweet potatoes before, but he knows something's up :) The past 6 months have been so much fun, and I'm looking forward to what the next 6 months bring. And yes, he looks just like his daddy!

Chicken Recipe

I tried a new recipe tonight. It's an easy Italian style chicken. All you need is:

-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (halves)

-3 large eggs, beaten

-1 cup Parmesan cheese

-1 cup fine dry Italian bread crumbs

-1/4 cup Italian salad dressing

-1/4 cup butter

Wash chicken and pat dry. Dip chicken into eggs. Combine cheese and bread crumbs. Coat chicken with crumb mixture. Place on greased baking sheet. Drizzle with salad dressing (I used more like 1/2 cup). Place pats of butter on each piece of chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. We had ours with spaghetti and garlic bread, and it was SO good!!

Sitting Up

Sorry if you tried to get on my blog and couldn't yesterday. I'm going to set it to private, but I'll give my readers a week or two to send me your e-mail address so I can add you to my list. Just send me your info to aarader@sbcglobal.net. On another note, both Bethany and Zachary are sitting up for short periods of time. They're also reaching out more if they want to be picked up. My babies seem so much bigger now.

Is it Friday yet?

Aaron goes out of town tomorrow and won't be back until Friday, so it's just me and the kids! Pray for me :)Actually, I've got an appointment with a urologist on Thursday morning. Aaron's aunt will be staying with the kids, so maybe I can get some answers to why I keep getting these kidney stones.

We love wearing pajamas!

Bethany loves to reach out and "pet" Rudy whenever he walks by her. He's actually licking the carpet below where she spit up. Rudy's so helpful cleaning up after them.

Here's Zachary smiling at his favorite part of a Baby Einstein video. He always smiles at the same part where a fish squirts water on the puppet monkey!

I hate kidney stones!!

I think I had my worst kidney stone experience last night! It started around dinner and then I began throwing up around the time we headed to bed. We called Aaron's sister, and she came over around 11:30 to spend the night with the kids. Thanks Ashley! The pain of kidney stones is hard to describe if you've never had one. We went to the ER in Grapevine...again. I tried to take the pain at home, but this was horrible! I got the wonderful pain medicine through my IV. After I got an x-ray, it showed the stone was in my bladder. So, that's it! You can't do anything for a kidney stone but drink lots of water. I know I'll get one again, but hopefully it won't be any time soon.

Bath Day

Aaron's at the store, so I thought I'd post some pictures while the kids are napping. Today was bath day, and I couldn't resist taking pics of my cuties!

Wordless Wednesday: Eating Peas

And a random video...

More Videos

I have a feeling I won't be posting anything for a while because we have NOTHING going on! So here are some more recent videos. Again, if you're looking on facebook you'll have to click on my blog to see these. I don't know why they don't show up!

Weekend Fun

We had another busy weekend! On Saturday we saw some old friends and got to meet their new baby, Grayson. Then Aunt Ashley and her friend came over that night to babysit. We got to have dinner at the Movie Tavern in Fort Worth. We saw "Date Night" which was very funny!

I've been playing with my Flip video camera and looking at some older videos of Bethany and Zachary. It's crazy to see how small they were in the NICU...and now they're almost 6 months old! If you're looking at this on facebook, you'll actually have to go to my blog to see these videos.

Glad it's the weekend!

I can't help smiling at these open mouth grins! They're starting to grab at more things, which includes my hair. Ouch! We've now tried green beans, and next we're trying peas. I think I'll start adding in some applesauce during the day. Maybe we'll do a fruit in the morning with rice cereal and veggies at night. Any suggestions on what/when to feed them?

Fun Photos

A couple of days ago I took the kids over to my parents' house for some play time. Katie and Randal were there, so I got some random pictures. I've learned this week that carrots stain! I think we'll try green beans next. Maybe they won't be as much of a mess! Here's how Bethany naps during the day. You can't tell, but she likes to suck her left thumb (upside down). Crazy girl!

Zachary's a very serious jumper :)

Randal's crazy hair...

Cousin Katie

Opening Day

The Rangers won! Daddy got to go to the game while the kids and I watched it at home. I took a picture of the boys before he left. When Bethany and Zachary get a little bigger we'll be going to baseball games as a family! This is also my 300th post :) A lot has changed since my 1st blog post.

Easter 2010

Bethany and Zachary got to go to their first wedding on Saturday night, so we got all dressed up! They did pretty well, but Aaron missed most of the reception because Bethany was crying. He also missed most of class on Sunday morning because she was crying again. I don't know what's going on with her! Anyway, we had a day full of Easter celebrations. I'm looking forward to next year when they can run around and find eggs with their cousins!

Rolling Over

It's so funny to see the difference in Bethany and Zachary's personalities. He's not a big fan of tummy time, but that's probably because he hasn't figured out how to roll over yet. Yes, his sister has rolled over more than once from tummy to back! She's also become a thumb sucker. I knew she didn't like the pacifier as much, but I was surprised to find her asleep the other day while sucking her thumb! And I'm still trying to get a video of Zach's laugh.

Messy Eaters

What have we been up to around here? Well, last week we tried sweet potatoes and now we're trying squash. They both eat up their rice cereal and seem to like their vegetables. We'll try some fruits in a few weeks! Bethany and Zachary both like to spit the food back out, so I have to watch out when I'm feeding them. She's a little bit messier than he is, so bath time is very important!We also started taking the kids to cradle roll class at church, and we've been going on walks almost every day.