My 26th Birthday!

 My mom was here the week before my birthday so Ryan and I got to go out on a date and celebrate  early. We went to the movies and dinner. My favorite part was the s'mores shake for dessert!

On my actual birthday we had a little family party with the four of us. The boys couldn't have any cake but they did enjoy playing with the fun party plates and napkins my mom bought me.

Ryan has good taste. My pretty chocolate cake!

 I got lots of fun present from Ryan and my family including a lens for my camera, kitchen accessories, trendy tops (infomercials really work on Ryan), towels, pretty plates for my plate collection (I'm doing a display in my kitchen), and lots of fun owl themed stuff. 

My grandpa always loved owls and I do too. You can tell from the similar cards I got from my parents and in laws!

 Reece

Liam

 So glad these little guys could be at my party.

Party Time!

Random Photos!

Some random photos from the past month.

 Liam 

 Reece, both boys have some pretty bad eczema right now :(

This is Liam with a cold compress on his head to bring down the swelling.

 Liam left & Reece right

Liam loves food and Reece still hates it. 

 Reece 

Reece being resorceful. It sure is hard holding up your head that long.

The boys sometimes fall asleep on our nightly walks. Liam left & Reece right.

 Liam, they sure love chewing on their fingers. 

 Liam's favorite pillow.

 Liam loving Orange!

Orange!

Five Months!

I don't have any stats this time so I am just going to do some facts about the boys.

You know how we thought Reece was teething at three months? It turns out he actually had a cyst around where his molars will be coming in. My doctor said it's no big deal, but that it can be really painful. The good thing is It does't seem to bother him anymore.

Reece has been very vocal since about three months. He has been testing his voice trying to see how high he can scream. That's not my favorite, but he makes other cute sounds so it's okay. Recently I heard Liam trying to make the same sound and I am pretty sure he is mimicking his brother. Every time I think I am getting to recognize the differences in the two boys' voices, they start to pick up on sounds that the other one makes.

Reece has been very giggly. I tried to give him a baby massage the other day and he is so ticklish that he laughed the entire time. He laughs and smiles at everyone and everything. Reece started arching his back trying to roll over at about 4 1/2 months and on his 5 month birthday he rolled from his back onto his stomach for the first time. He is very active and seems to be pretty coordinated. At 4 1/2 months he tried eating baby food, but he hasn't liked it very much. He even spits at you as you try to give him the spoon. Reece started out as my cuddly baby but now he has become more active and aware and he never stays still long enough to cuddle. :'(

Liam has gotten more cuddly. He loves to rest his head on you when he gets sleepy.  Liam is very sweet and smart. Liam picked up on eating really fast and seems to enjoy every kind of baby food we give him. One of his favorite things to do is stick his feet straight up in the air and then slam them down on the floor. Over and over. He even does it in his sleep. All swaddled up in his green wrap, it makes him look like a floppy fish.

Liam hasn't rolled over yet but he's at a disadvantage because he's not quite as round as Reece. He can get onto his side by putting his feet straight up into the air and then letting them fall to one side.

I think Liam is going to like animals. He notices Sushi and Orange as they walk by, and will giggle and try to pull their whiskers off. Our cats know they are babies and are very patient with them. One of his favorite toys is a throw pillow we have on our couch. We play a game in which the pillow is slowly lowered towards him. He laughs and opens his mouth up wide, which is his version of a smile. When the pillow is ready to touch down, he puts all four limbs straight up in the air and balances the pillow on his feet and hands, forming a tiny table. This game is sure to cheer him up when nothing else will. 

Both babies have been laughing since birth. They used to do it in their sleep and it sounded like little goats, but now they laugh in reaction to people and all sorts of things and it's very cute. At about four months they started smiling at each other and now they love to look at each other and laugh. Sometimes I'll put them in their crib and check on them some time later, only to find they've been keeping each other up by giggling back and forth at each other.

Both babies love books, toys, and music. Their favorite book is 'oh my oh my oh dinosaurs', and their favorite song is Jingle Bells, which Ryan sings to them all the time. They don't like recorded music quite as much--I think they like to watch your face as you sing. They can be entertained for hours laying on a blanket and watching you sing. Both babies also think the words "da da dadada" and "ma ma mama" are quite hilarious.

 The prize for being so good while taking pictures... A crib full of toys!!!

First feeding

The boys tried rice cereal for the first time. I thought Reece would love eating because he has always been easier to feed bottles to and he just looks like a good eater. In the end it was Liam who picked up on what was going on. I would hold the spoon up and he would quickly open his mouth whereas I had to shove it in Reece's mouth because he didn't understand opening it. It will be interesting to see if they have similar taste in food.

We also got them some fancy new booster seats. They are still a little young for them so we had to prop them up with blankets while they eat, but they will be perfect in a few months.

Idaho time!

Ryan and I took the boys for the first time to Idaho to meet all of the in-laws. It's fun they live in Rexburg, Idaho because I went to college there and now I have a reason to go back and see all the growth of this little college town which changes so much every year. 

We took the boys on their first flight from Oakland to Idaho Falls which was great.

My in-laws have an incredible garden with tons of raspberry bushes. 

I am pretty sure by the end of the trip Ryan and I had eaten about a gallon of them. We even went out with a flashlight and picked some as a midnight snack one night.

Yum! It's hard to eat the store bought kind now. They just don't taste as good.

My sister-in-law Maureen did all of our nails including Ryan's. He has the little black cat   >^..^<

One of my closest friends from college lives near my in-laws, so I get to see her at least once a year. Jazzy just had her second son and it's fun to see her and her family grow.

The Murdocks have an annual tradition of something called 'Cousins Camp' where they head up to my mother-in-law Beverly's and father-in-law Phil's land in Island Park for a day of fun. This was Reece and Liam's first year and though they couldn't really participate in the festivities I think they might have had the most peaceful naps ever. Notice the river in the background of the picture above? It was gorgeous.

Reece and Liam framed their cousin Owen for an undisclosed crime. I am pretty sure with his innocent face that he didn't do it. It's going to be fun seeing these three boys grow up since Owen is only about a month older than the twins. 

While Ryan and his sisters went river rafting the boys and I walked to Taco Time. It made me reminisce about my college days when my roommate and I would go there once a week for what we called Taco Time Tuesday. I wonder if the man in the background is reminiscing about earlier Taco Times, too…

Ryan's sister Maureen was nice enough to watch the twins so we could go on a date to my favorite restaurant 'Snake Bite'. Reece and Liam cried so much you'd think that THEY got a 'snake bite'! (Ryan made me write that joke). I love this place. They have well seasoned criss cross fries and I love me a good burger. Ryan loves the baked brie. Ryan even proposed to me by a river eating Snake Bite by candlelight... super romantic right?

Beverly owns a cute little scooter that she let me borrow and Ryan taught me how to use it. I felt pretty brave hitting 15 mph.

The flight back home is something we are trying to forget. It included one of my most embarrassing moments which I don't want to share with the internet, but in the end it was all worth it for the fun trip. See you next year Murdocks!