Gettin' Chilly in Texas!

Life is CRAZY busy. So much to post...the GREAT visit from my Mom, Halloween, the election, volunteering, work, family...life!!! But at least here are some cute pics of Kiss and Cookie gearing up for 70 degree weather (hey that's down right cold here in Texas!!). More as soon as I can find a minute or two.


So Pretty! Kiss gets more beautiful everyday - with or without her Bear hat!

Seriously cute Cookie Bear!!! Don't you just want to eat him up???

Happy Birthday Gram P!!!

We love you and miss you and send you tons of kisses and hugs on your Birthday!!!
Grandfather and Grandson. The love is blinding and amazing.
The Franksters!!!! Two of a kind.

We wish you a Birth Year filled with joy, the laughter of children (three grandbabies should do the trick), peace and health! We look forward to seeing you soon!
Love, Kiss, Cookie, Bratwurst, Pixie, Tri-cat council and the Caretakers!!

The count down is on to Halloween!

Skelignton Bear
and the Pumpkin Princess!

Ball Pit

THE BALL PIT...need I say more???

They absolutely love it but it has swallowed my house!!!

And Cookie!!


Happy Babies(and friends)in their GIGANTIC ball Pitt.

Happy 7 month Birthday!!!

Kiss and Cookie turn 7 months today. Hard to believe that it has been that long already.
Kiss loves to sit up and she is now leaning faaaar forward reaching for things. She will tumble onto her belly and depending on her mood, either get her knees under her or scream!!! I think crawling will be in her near future. It seems as though she might be teething. No big bumps yet - but loving to gnaw on anything (including Cookie).
She is eating EVERYTHING!!! but really loves to feed herself. Right now her favorites are toast and pear spears and Baby Mum-Mums. She will sometimes hold her own bottle, but not always. Same with the sippy cup. She loves loves loves to look at herself and others in the mirror. Giggle. Giggle. Her favorite toys are the wooden giraffe that Auntie N gave her and spoons - any kind will do!!! She also loves to play "human trampoline" using Daddy to jump, jump, jump on!!! FUN!

She will play with toys by herself for quite a while now, only getting frustrated when she lands on the belly and wants someone to sit her back up! She loves to ride in the stroller and to sit by herself in the highchair. A very steady sturdy little girl.

Today she weighed in (clothed and diapered) at 17.14! WOW...no wonder I have back pain

Cookie is pretending to be a plank!! He does not want to bend at the hips. No sir! It is either standing or lounging for that young man and standing is his preference. In order to get him to sit you have to literally BEND him with two hand and then lean him all the way forward - if you don't he will just loll back. That kid! He really likes to lounge...hence he is a bit of a flat head. We keep trying anything to get him to NOT lay on the back of his head. He might be laid back (ha ha) but he is stubborn as all get out!!
Cookie likes most food - eventually. He responds to each bite with a grimace and "yuck-o" face. After this initial reaction he will dive in and eat most things. The only thing that doesn't warrant the initial "yuck-o" face is sweetened yogurt. Yogurt is actually met with a squeal of delight. Funny! He is also very sensitive to texture. Mommy and Daddy have been making most of the baby food...and sometimes it those peas don't always get as smooth as he would like. Only store bought SMOOOOTH peas for Cookie please!!
Cookie loves to take a bath in the big tub with Kiss. He loves to make BIG splashes and get everyone wet. So cute.
Cookies favorite toys are Baby Einstein videos. I swore I wouldn't get those videos for the babies...but they got addicted to Ice Road Truckers and it was time to make the switch!! He also loves to smile and giggle with Daddy and play with his new Super Block toy (bats at it with his feet from a reclining position - of course).
Cookie Monster is currently a Drool Monster...he might be teething as well. A jolly fellow - so hard to tell. I think with him there will just be teeth one day without too much fussiness (or at least I hope!).
Cookie isn't as interested in holding his bottle or feeding himself. I think he figures if you'll do it for him - why should he waste the energy. He is such a funny little guy!! He does like tummy time and will perch on his arms and check out the world. This is one of his favorite ways to observe Kiss Fits!!!

Today he weighed in at 18.12. Have I mentioned WOW!!

Both babies have been sleeping better in the last few days and waking a little later in the morning (6ish vs. 5ish). They are in great spirits, good health and continue to be the light in our lives.

Happy 7 month Birthday Kiss and Cookie. We love you.

New Ears!!

Kiss had her post-op checkup on Wednesday and the Dr. gave her a two thumbs up!! He said that she was healing perfectly and that in a year or two the scar would be so slight you would need a magnifying glass to see it.

Check out the new ears!

And the super cute picture of Cookie. He has amazingly cute ears too!!


Thanks to everyone for the warm thoughts and concern! She did great and should be 100% healed in another week or so.

Too short, but oh so sweet!

On Tuesday we got a short but oh so sweet visit from Kiss and Cookie's Fairy Godmother, Natalie. Natalie is a pretty terrific person all around - and as terrific people do - she was doing a terrific thing. She DROVE with her amazing friend Carla from LA to Houston (check out woolanthropy for trip highlights) . Carla has just moved to Houston from LA and before she even got a chance to settle in they made the trip to BCS to visit with us. It was wonderful to see them and we were so appreciative of the time they took out of a hectic and emotional trip to see us.

Carla lovin' on Bentley (no we do NOT have a third dog - he is the SN's)


You can't read Kiss' T-shirt, but it says " I have a HOT AUNTIE!" - and Yes you do!!


Auntie N with Cookie


Auntie getting in some love and playtime with Cookie.
Hey does my butt look big???


Natalie - we miss you already.

Carla - Howdy! and welcome to the great state of Texas! We hope to see more of you now that you're within hollerin' distance!

Happy Birthday Grandpa L.

Super Happy Birthday wishes to Grandpa L. from Kiss and Cookie. We all hope that you had a terrific day. We miss you!!

Above and Beyond!

A shout out to our Super Nanny!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!

She is well aware of the sleepless situation in our household and very generously offered to take her little charges home with her on Thursday night. At first I said 'no' and then I realized that I was literally on empty. I remembered that I don't have anything to prove and that I can and should take help when it is offered and so I did.

The babies stayed with Super Nanny and we slept 13 hours. It's true that I kept getting up waiting for a baby to cry, but then I would remember they were safe and sound with SN and was able to fall back to sleep.

I wish that I could say that I feel rested and whole again...but I think that's going to take more than one good nights sleep!! It was a start and now we both feel more ready to take on the sleep challenges of Kiss and Cookie!!

Mommy and Daddy looking a bit happier and rested after our night off.

Cookie looking mighty happy after a night with the SN!!

And Kiss sending a BIG hug and kiss to SN for giving mommy and daddy a much needed break.

Thanks Super Nanny for taking your work home with you!!! You are an amazing caregiver to our entire family and we love you!!!

Sleepless in College Station

Oh how cute they look while they sleep...it's just that they DON"T!!! Okay, they do sometimes - but not for very long. I have recently bought every book that I can lay my hands on to deal with this new development in the lives of Kiss and Cookie.

Some background. Cookie has never been a good sleeper. He is a very attached kid and really prefers to sleep in my arms. Now this is all well and good - except that then I can't sleep and after 6 months I am running on empty. The most recent thing was for him to fall asleep in my arms, then when I went to lay him down he would SCREAM, when I picked him up he would LAUGH. I kid you not. He would just laugh!!! Okay that was enough of that and I decided that we would Ferberize him. For those not deep in the " land of baby" that translates to let him cry it out. So there we went down the scream trail...and it worked. Sort of. Now Mr. Coookie is falling alseep BUT getting up every 2 hours. Yes, folks you heard right - every 2 hours!!!

So that's one kid, but we have two. Miss Kiss has aways been a great sleeper. In the past you could just set her sleepy self into the crib and she would be out. She would sleep for 5-6 hours and then want a bottle. On average she was getting up 1.5 times per night - no big deal. This is doable. Fast forward to today. Up 3-4 times a night.

Do the math. One kid is up every two hours, the other gets up 3-4 times per night - rarely at the same time as the other, this equals less than 1.5hours of sleep at a time. This equals exhaustion!!

So what's to be done? Stay tuned.........

Introducing Kiss and Cookie

Some of you know her by another name...but to quote Shakespeare
" A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet"











As for this little monster...he would taste as sweet!!

Just Two Ears Please!!!

One last shot of Kiss and her Second Ears!!!

She is looking and feeling fine after having her ear tags removed this morning. The thing I was the most worried about was not being able to feed her from Midnight until the surgery at 7:15am. For all those that know her - She likes to get her eat on!!!

But no fears! When she woke up for her usual 4am snack (yes it IS time to end this little ritual) we just pretended that it was time to get up and start they day. We all got up and played and read books and then the babes took a little nap around 5:30am and we were off to the surgery center. We were in the door by 6am, had the surgery at 7:15am and had a bottle in her mouth by 7:45am. Home by 8:15am. A busy morning for sure...






The loss of her second ears didn't seem to phase her at all. She was much more interested in her new toys and trying to eat the cat!!!






We love the new look she is sporting but will miss her little Who Ears!!!