J.U.L.Y

A trip to the hardware store...so boring it literally put all 3 to sleep...granted we were pushing naptime...but all 3 to fall asleep while out in a store, that's unheard of around here! I have a video of bobbing heads that's pretty funny.  Maybe i'll get it uploaded soon :)

I made a cake...and the icing...and the pralines...  That's unheard of too.  I don't bake much.  It definitely warranted space on the blog. 

We also made some new friends. Meet Princess Adelyn aka Nora's first "best friend"

and meet their princess dogs...

and this is Adelyn's brother Daniel. He's a couple years older and Holden thinks he's pretty cool ;)

Also meet the Luchetta Team.  Mike is working with their Dad.  We had them all over for dinner right before the guys deployed.  Their kids are very similar in age to ours--but they have triplets instead of twins! 

in order: 

Nora, Ava, Davis, Holden, Emma, Brayden, Gavin

Nana took a ride in Nora's truck.  

I unearthed the hula girl outfits from a box that was never unpacked completely. Oh more dress-up.

an irresistible face

Nora got a "short cut".  which is exactly correct--and incorrect.  hair is still long...just a little trim.  :)

a vampire bit Little D.  ok. not really.  I debated putting this up...but here it is.  He actually fell onto the corner of a desk.  after some ice and lots of Neosporin all is better :)

according to my friend Sarah...i was a little too amazed by this...but while driving down I95 we were being tailed by a funny looking helicopter carrying a huge electricity pole. 

sometimes for breakfast cake is the best option. 

what's with cat's and babies?  always wanting to get inside baskets and boxes...even when they are too big for them :)

Aloha Zoo

a little ironic that we leave Hawaii to come to Fayetteville, just to live 20 minutes from the Aloha Zoo...

not that we saw much "aloha" there. 

The Aloha Zoo is a small little zoo owned by a local man.  Apparently many of the animals are rescued from abusive homes or neglect.  They also have a miniature horse business.  My honest opinion is this.  There are some good opportunites to get close and feed some interesting animals.  Their habitats are a bit sparse and sad looking, there were a lot of flies around...and i mean A LOT and there were maggots in the horse feed buckets.  Maybe we hit them up on a bad day...but either way--Mike and I left a little disenchanted.  

As far as the kids though...they loved it--especially getting to feed all the animals. The goats were their favorites..haha. 

 checking out the sleeping white tiger

 My favorite part was the giraffe--his name is Stretch. 

 There was also a "safari ride" If we were to go back again, i'd skip this part. Although the camels were kinda cool.  Apparently the camels come from churches who buy them for nativities and then don't want them anymore. Supposedly it's cheaper to buy a new one than care for it all year..that's crazy, right? 

2 Weeks

Today marks 2 weeks down out of about 40--give or take...

The past two weeks have been pretty busy, traveling and visiting family and friends.  Now it's time to get back to our real life as well as our new reality--life without Daddy.  We've not quite been home for 24 hours and there have been a lot of questions--i can see the twins doing their best to process everything.  They ask if Daddy is at work a lot--especially when we were on base today.  When we skype with mike, which has been surprisingly a good experience this time, they ask him a lot about where he sleeps and seem confused why the is sun out where he is and it's dark at our house (or visa versa).  They also ask if he's still on a plane--i keep trying to explain that he's not on one anymore, but i don't think they quite get it.  Strangely enough, Nora has declared she is now afraid of planes and runs to be near us when she hears one.  I assume the connection is with Mike leaving, although it's hard to tell.  Nora told me yesterday, while on the way back home, that her Meow and turtle missed Daddy.  Then Holden chimed in that Captain America and Hulk missed Daddy too.  It's sweet and sad too.  It's a balancing act...keeping things as normal as possible while still being truthful and acknowledging  Mike's absence and then just distracting them as much as possible with fun activities so they (and I) don't have to notice it too much. 

I found this series of pics on my phone of Mike's last day home with us.  It was a sweet, calm day.  We didn't do anything or go anywhere--it was just our little family in our home.  These are for you Mike :)

Early Morning Bed Snuggles

hula girl!

 pulling out D's big baby toys

 love our trampoline

 kids trying their hand at taking our picture 

~nora~

 ~holden~

 we hadn't yet talked about Mike leaving, but holden knew...he's sensitive and intuitive..my deep feeling baby--too much like me

 night night time

10 Months Old

Our little Davison Luke turned ten months old--double digits!  how fast it goes by. 

The photo shoot this month wasn't as great as usual.  Mike and I together couldn't convince that kid to sit still for a second.  Which is par for the course with Little D. The kid is NEVER still--except when he's sleeping and even then, he makes full use of the crib space.  The nursery workers call him Mr. Wiggles, changing his diaper is like a wrestling match, he kicks in his high chair the entire way through meal times, and does a similar motion in the carseat...just add the arms too.  Really.  He's never still. 

He's been moving around since 6 months, but just in the past month has he truly been crawling in a traditional sense--ya know, hands and knees on the ground, butt up, nothing dragging the ground.  He's also been pulling up for about 2 months now, but he's gotten to be quite the expert now.  I also on occasion catch him standing up, with toys in both hands, playing, not really holding on to anything...just balancing a bit on his belly.  He loves to hold our hands and walk, he'll even do it one-handed.  I think walking may not be far off. Although, if i'm being honest, i'm not encouraging it--the crawling stage is so sweet and such a short time in their lives. I love it.  

Just in the past couple of weeks i've noticed a big difference in his verbal skills.  While "Momma" is his most used word--i'm fairly certain he says "bye-bye", and "yum-yum".  He'll also copy words after i say them sometimes...that list is a bit longer--water, brother, eat, dada, Davis, banana, berry. 

We're starting to work on sign-language.  More and water are the biggies, so he'll stop screaming at the table so much.  The child is SERIOUS about his food.  I can't keep enough food in front of him and when he's hungry, beware.  He eat all sorts of things....really its too much to list.  He does have favorites though.  Black beans, spaghetti, peaches, strawberries, pickles, blackberries, raspberries, sweet potatoes, and pulled pork (barbeque). He's really cut down on his nursing in the past month.  I'm lucky to get 2 feedings in a day--i'm still pushing it though, because we are having problems keeping dairy down.  It seems every time he eats yogurt or drinks a little milk, it all comes back up.  gross. I'm hoping he grows out of it. 

He's a great sleeper--as long as we are at home.  He gets on average 12 hrs a night, sometimes more.  then he takes about 2 naps a day of 1.5-3 hours.  On busy days it might be 1 longer nap.  But still..i can't complain.  He's not so good sleeping other places though.  It's highly unlikely he'll fall asleep in the car--even on the long car trips.  He also doesn't sleep well in other homes, although it is better than a few months ago.  Instead of the multiple wake-ups a night we would have while visiting family, we're down to just one and then an early wake-up call.  I'm also hoping he'll grow out of this :)

Things he loves: 

his paci, we call it "raffy"

his brother and sister

food

being outside

the boba (our baby carrier)

water--baths and pools

the going to bed book

Things he doesn't like: 

being alone

diaper changes

car rides

being restricted or penned up

Here's his 10 month photo shoot...best we could do :)

Smith Lake

My brain is somewhere...other than my head i think.  I found these pictures on my desktop...i'm usually extremely organized with my photos and blogging...things have been a bit crazy lately.  I had to go back and see if i already posted these...i don't think i did.  

SO...

Smith Lake is our park of choice around the house.  We went there as a family a few weeks before Mike left.  It was a beautiful (not too hot) day...and our first Family of Five trip to the park where everyone actually participated. 

It's like Pride Rock

 Proud of his Jump

 Little D joining in on the fun

 Burns Pile-Up

 Daddy's Shades