9 Month Stats

The girls had their 9 month appointment this week. Here are their stats:

Jocelyn: weight- 18 lbs 6 oz 

                28 inches long

Gabbie: weight- 17 lbs 10 oz

                27.5 inches long

This is one of the pictures that we had taken a while back of the girls. I will post some more soon....the pictures are AMAZING!!! (I guess I am a LITTLE bias :)

It's been a while...

Well, it's definitely been a while since my last post. I have had great intentions every day to get on here....but, of course, something crazy would happen and I would have to put it off yet again! 

There have been several things that have taken place in the past 6 weeks. For the sake of time I am just going to list some "bullets". They are in the order in which they occurred:

*Jocelyn got her first two teeth

*Our families came to visit us for Thanksgiving...we had a blast!

*Jocelyn (our adventurous child) started crawling backwards (which is hilarious to watch :) 

*We went to Mobile for a week....we FLEW ON A PLANE with the girls for the first time...there is not enough room on here to give details of that trip :).....we did have a fabulous time while we there seeing friends and family

*Gabbie (our verbal child) has started to say "Dada" all the time

*I looked at the monitor the other day and Jocelyn is sitting up in her crib (for the first time) staring at the monitor 

*The girls had their 9 month appointment (what!?!?!? they can't be 9 months old yet!?!?!)

*We ALL got the HORRIBLE stomach virus. We didn't think we were going to survive...we obviously did..... :)

*Jocelyn started crawling forward 

*The girls talk to each other all the time (in their secret language) and laugh hysterically at each other....it is TOO funny to watch!

That is just a few things that have taken place during my long period of "not blogging". We are heading out tomorrow (at least that is the plan) to visit family for Christmas and go to our New Year's Conference in Atlanta. I am SURE there will be lots of stories from that adventure!

Teenagers

The girls just started sitting up on their own this past week. It was like all of the sudden they were just sitting up like big girls. I don't really know how it happened. I just looked at them the other day and said..."oh my goodness, ya'll are sitting up all by yourselves...ya'll are growing up so fast...ya'll look like teenagers already!!"...ok, I know that was a little bit over the top (some say that I can be just "a little" dramatic at times :) , but you know what I mean....they don't look like my little preemie babies anymore!! I can't believe they are already 8 months old!

Jocelyn smiling as usual


Gabbie looks really suspicious in this one...

Jocelyn LOVES her thumb. I know it is going to be a hard habit to break later...but she is SO cute when she has it in her mouth :)

Gabbie talking away....

Nanny Shrop

This past weekend Katie Shropshire (aka Nanny Shrop) came to visit!! The girls had so much fun playing with Katie (and spitting up on her continuously...sorry Shrop :) We went shopping, took a tour of RTS, and ate at Chick-fil-A (of course). It actually got a little chilly one day (since it IS fall, but never feels like it here) so the girls had to dress accordingly with their fun little hats. Here are some pics of them in their "winter hats" and with Nanny Shrop....

Gabbie is so sad that Katie had to leave.....come back soon!!

Swimming!!!

Last weekend we went to visit some friends in Sarasota. They had a heated pool (and it's crazy hot here anyway...even though it is November) so we decided to take the girls swimming for the first time. Jocelyn LOVED it. She was a little fish. I thought at any moment she was just going to start swimming underwater and doing flips off the diving board! Gabbie took a little longer to get used to "big bathtub"....she LOVES getting a bath at home, but I think the pool was a little overwhelming at first :) She was satisfied with me holding her above the water while she chewed on her rubber duckie. She did finally go for a dip after I "eased" her into it. I predict Jocelyn will want to be in the water (like her daddy) and Gabbie will just prefer to layout by the pool (like her mama :)

Rubber Duckie Obsession

The girls have a new found obsession with their rubber duckie. They have always loved bath time, but now they especially love it because they get to "eat" the duckie for an extended period of time :)

Congrats to Kiwi Josh!

Our Kiwi friend, Josh, came over in August to visit us for a few months and take some classes at RTS. Well, little did he know that he was also going to meet his future wife and be engaged to her within the short few months he has been here! His wonderful new fiance, Stacey, is a second year counseling student at RTS. They are tying the knot in June. We are WAY excited for them both! The girls were a little jealous because they used to be Josh's favorites until the "older woman" came along :) This is a picture of them the night they got engaged. They are SO cute together :)

Costumes

Here are some pics of the girls in their costumes that were sent for them (thanks to the Cagles and to Aunt Julia!!:) Above...Shane is on his cell phone that he USED to have before he lost it last week, along with ALL his numbers...THUS, if you want him to have your number or know a number that he would want, etc., please email it to him at: sblack@campusoutreach.org Thanks!!

Here is our attempt to get a pic of all three girls in their costumes...this was the best shot we could get....imagine that!

Our feisty little black cat and our jolly little pumpkin!

All Smiles!!

Polar Opposites

Everyday I am amazed at how different the girls are from one another...they are seriously polar opposites! It's crazy how two babies can be born at the same time and yet be so different in every way. They are so unique and I love it! It's fun to "learn" them more and more each day. I am overwhelmed at the Lord's goodness to us! They are such a sweet gift from Him.

Which one looks like me???

Jocelyn's Two Favorites...

Lately, Jocelyn has had to have two things to be happy...her thumb in her mouth and Jayden's Elmo balloon. I feel like her thumb is going to be flat or something when she grows up b/c she sucks it so much and out of ALL the toys she has to play with...she wants Jayden's Elmo balloon. She tries to eat it, wrestles with it, screams at it, and hits Gabbie with it...it's really funny to watch. Here is a cute pic of her in the Johnny with thumb in place and a death grip on Elmo's string :)

Let the Journey begin....

Journey Elizabeth Summerville is here! She was born yesterday, the 20th, and weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz and 20 and a half inches long. She is so beautiful and as you can see has LOTS of black curly hair! Amy and Journey are doing well and we are so excited about this new addition to "our family" :) I am also excited that I did not have to deliver her in our kitchen ( I have secretly had the fear that Shane and Demetrius would be a school and Amy's water would break and I would have to deliver Journey...can you imagine?!?!) We can now officially start a day care in our home since we have 4 kids under the age of 16 months! We have decided to name it "Kidz Korner". ..no particular reason, just sounds cute :)

I forgot the picture

This picture goes with the "Nursery Time" post below. I forgot to upload it :)

Nursery Time

We put the girls in the church nursery for the first time last week. I know, I know...It's taken me a "little" while to get up the courage to leave them...I mean...they are only 7 months old! But, to my defense, our pediatrician down here advised us to wait until they had their 6 month shots...I just waited another month after that :). Anyways, it was a HUGE deal for me! I didn't think it would be that hard for me, but it was! This was a picture of the girls and me when we were about to head to church. They looked so cute in their church dresses. I was just excited that we were actually going somewhere for them to wear some of their dress-up clothes (and not just me and Amy playing dress-up in the house and pretending we were going somewhere :)

Two Different Perspectives...

So the other night Shane went out on the back porch to make a phone call. After a little while he came back inside. Our back porch is connected to our living room and has a sliding glass door. I came back into the living room a couple of hours later and Shane was sitting on the couch. I sat down on the loveseat which faces the sliding glass door. Shane didn't have a really good view of the sliding glass door from the couch. I looked at the door and it was open (probably about 6 or 7 inches). This was the conversation that followed:

Me: Why is the sliding glass door open?
Shane: It's not.
Me: Yes it is. The door is open.
Shane: No it's not. I shut it when I came in from making phone calls a while ago.
Me: No you didn't...the door is open. I'm looking at it with my own eyes. It's open!
Shane: No it's not!
Me: OK, I must be blind or something! I can see it! You can't!
Shane: I know I didn't leave it open!
Me: YES YOU DID!

Shane then gets up from the couch and walks over to see the door (finally) and then confidently concludes..."It's not open. It's just not shut all the way."

End of story

Bunny Rabbit Notebook...

OK, so this is a continuation from from my post back in August titled "School Supplies". You will not understand why this picture is funny unless you go back and read that post. I was at the store a few weeks ago and saw this notebook and had to get it for Shane. Not only does it have a bunny rabbit on it, but it also says..."Skool makes you sooper smart!" I think it fits him well. :)

Happy Birthday to Shane!!

Shane turned 35 on Tuesday. The girls baked him a cake (of course they made his favorite...strawberry celestial surprise..aka God Cake). We had a big birthday party after lunch (big meaning... me, the girls, Amy, Jayden, and Josh...Demetrius had a meeting, so he couldn't attend the big birthday bash). Shane and I went out to dinner for his birthday that night...where? Outback of course....when given a choice, Shane will always choose STEAK! Thanks to Amy and Demetrius for staying home with the girls so we could have a night out to celebrate the mid-30's! It was so great to actually be able to eat in peace and have a conversation with each other :) I am SO very grateful that the Lord has blessed me with the greatest husband on the planet!!!

Sippy Cups

This week I decided to give the girls sippy cups for the first time just to see what they would do with them. I didn't really think they would know what to do with them since they have never seen one before. Well, right when I handed it to them, they grabbed the handles, stuck it into their mouths and started sucking/drinking/chewing. I was amazed! It was like they knew exactly what to do! (I am really amazed at the things I am amazed at these days :) Gabbie actually drinks more water from the cup than Jocelyn. Jocelyn would rather chew more then drink. I tried to get a good pic of both of them drinking from their sippy cups for the first time ever but Jocelyn had to stop drinking and smile for the camera, of course. Gabbie, however, was really focused on the task at hand :)

Thing 1 and Thing 2

I remember LOVING Dr. Seuss's books when I was growing up (who didn't??). I've seen these outfits before and thought they would be so cute for the girls. This past week when Ben and Katie Nelson came to visit (it was SOOOO great seeing you guys!) they brought a gift for us from Brandon and Jennifer McShea and it was these Dr. Seuss outfits!! Thank you SO much! They made the cutest Thing 1 and Thing 2 I've ever seen (I'm not bias, of course:)

New Pics

Jocelyn LOVES the camera

I think these outfits are SO cute. They really describe them well....Jocelyn is definitely a "social butterfly" and Gabbie just wants to be "loved on" constantly :)

Jocelyn playing with Shane's beard

Our most recent family photo. This is one of my favorite pics so far. It is definitely a miracle that we got the girls to: 1. Look at the camera at the same time and 2. Smile at the same time

It was fun putting the girls in red. I'm so used to them wearing pink :)

The girls were jealous of Jayden's sunglasses so they stole them from him
and snapped a few photos of each other

6 Month Stats

Stats: Jocelyn- Weight: 15 lbs 4 oz (45%!!!)
Length: 25 3/4 in long (50%!!!!)
Gabbie- Weight: 14 lbs 13 oz (25%!!!)
Length: 24 3/4 in long (15%!!!)

The girls had their 6 month appt on Tuesday and as you can see from the pic above, the girls were shocked at their stats! They are actually ON THE GROWTH CHART NOW!!!! I thought they wouldn't be on the chart until they were like 5 years old or something! Needless to say, we are SO grateful that the Lord has allowed them to grow and develop so well. They haven't even been sick one time since they were born (not even a little cold!) We can't believe how much bigger they are from when they were born. It's almost unbelievable to go back and look at pictures and see how small they were. I put a few pics below so you can see the difference!

Shane holding the girls when they were a week old. Gabbie weighed 3 lbs 8 oz here and Jocelyn was 4 lbs 1 oz . They were TINY!!!

I love these two pictures! The girls were 1 month old in these pics and weighed a little under 5 pounds each. ( I remember thinking they were HUGE compared to when we brought them home from the hospital!)

Breastpump Search

OK, this is very random...but, for the past several months I have been using Amy's medela breastpump. Well, as most of you know, Amy is having her daughter in a month and will be needing to use her breastpump. We could both use it (with out own attachments of course :) while we are here together but she may be traveling for Thanksgiving and we are going to be traveling at Christmas and I will be needing a pump during those times. SOOOOO, I say all that to say...I am putting this random request on here to see if anyone has a medela breastpump that I could use from the end of October through the beginning of March (I plan on breastfeeding for a year....but we shall see :). If you have one I can use or know someone who does, please let me know. THANKS!

Future Hoopsters

Our good friend, Alex Paige, got these pink Michael Jordan outfits for the girls (thanks Alex!). We decided to have another photo shoot because they were way too cute! Jordan would be proud....they are definitly future hoopsters :)

Gabbie (we decided to spell it with an "ie" instead of a "y") and her cute little smile

Jocelyn has her "game face" on

Gabbie striking a pose for the camera

Jocelyn thinks everything is SO funny. She laughs constantly (except when she has her game face on, of course)