Wordless Wednesday

Cereal Killers

Tonight was the night...the 1st attempt at the twins eating solid foods...and the menu included some yummy rice cereal. After downing about 6 ounces each of milk around 5 PM, the girls joined their Mommy, Daddy and Big Sister at the dinner table about a couple of hours later and got to experience the texture of solid food for the 1st time! Blaire was the first taker...she started off all smiles and it was awesome. She wasn't sure about the first bite and would tilt her head back to swallow, but it worked. She gobbled up a lot for the first time! And Big Sister even got in on the action by feeding her a bit of cereal (although Abby gagged and coughed saying how horrible the cereal smelled, ha!).


After Blaire was finished eating, she went to Daddy and Mommy got her hands all over Reagan getting her ready for her first solid foods. She started off almost identical to Blaire...and ended the same way - in all smiles. The middle part was the difficult one for Reagan. Well, not so much difficult as it was that she just could have cared less. She wasn't the biggest fan of the texture of the food, and it took her a few bites to get the swallowing down pat. But in the end, she ate a pretty good amount (even from the helping bites Big Sister offered) and the 1st time for solids was a success!


Now...such a big day for Reagan and Blaire we know. But Abby was not to be out done. She was such a big help this morning at the doctor's office, this afternoon when we got home, and even this evening when feeding and bathing the girls. As a reward for being so great today, we pulled out the slip-n-slide and she invited her friends Savanna and Cooper over and they had a ball outside...slipping, sliding, chalking, throwing water balloons at targets and trying to jump rope. After such an exciting day, we think all three Wade girls will be sleeping soundly tonight!!!!

FOURTH down - move the chains!

Today Reagan and Blaire had appointments with Dr. Mac for the four month check up. Although the girls are still preemies, and got their 2 month shots at 3 months of age, they are going to catch up to speed with pediatrician appointments - starting today! A few days shy of turning 4 1/2 months old, they headed to get their check up and their 4 month shots...one in each leg as well as an additional oral medication. They both handled the morning like a pro. With big sister watching, and our favorite local nurse, Ms. Leigh (who was back after missing last month's appt!), the girls got their shots, cried for maybe 5 seconds and then took it all in stride by chilling out in on the exam table.

Watching the girls get their shots isn't bad at all - Blaire hardly bleeds at all from shots, but Reagan's right leg is a gusher, ha! What is a bit interesting is watching a Mommy carry two babies and a toddler into the office by herself! Ha! But we love Dr. Mac and Ms. Leigh and they make these appointments a breeze! Here's today's numbers from the appointment:

Blaire* - Length: 22 1/4 inches; Weight: 10 lbs, 15 ounces;
Temp: 98.5, HC: 38

Reagan - Length: 21 1/2 inches; Weight: 10 lbs 5 1/2 ounces;
Temp: 99.5, HC: 38

The next "official" check up is not until November (at 6 months), but next month, the twins will start going back to Dr. Mac once a month for a Synergist shot. (This is a once-a-month shot given throughout the RSV season - Oct thru March - to babies, usually preemies, that are at high risk from dying from RSV usually with chronic lung disease...it isn't a vaccine but rather an immune globulin.) So...for the time being, we are sitting back and waiting for Dr. Mac to call and tell us when the Synergist shots have arrived at her office. Until then, they will continue to grow and grow...especially since we are starting cereal once a day now! Because Dr. Mac was so impressed with the girls (smiling, cooing, laughing, holding up the head with control, sitting in high chairs, etc) she said to go ahead and try a bit. And since their big sister wasn't a "cereal in the bottle fan", she suggested to go ahead and try the bowl first...so, if our day wasn't interesting enough, it looks like dinner time is about to get a lot more crazy!!!!! Praise God for a GREAT four month check up girls!!!!!!

*About a month ago, Blaire developed a little small red spot on her chin. Dr. Mac confirmed this was another superficial hemangioma (although it is very very small compared to her other one) and that it will disappear much faster than the one on her stomach. If you don't know, a hemangioma is a benign tumor of the cells. It is not hereditary. It occurs in the womb or the first few weeks of life. This one appeared on Blaire in what was her 4th (corrected age) week of life. About 10% of infants get these and they are more common in fair skinned females. Regression of the tumor generally occurs by the time the child is 10 years old. (Abby's - which is on her arm - is about 50% in regression.)

Anything you can do I can do better....no you can't, yes I can...

Oh the joys of having twins in the house! A day doesn't go by when someone we know asks us whether the girls are identical and if there are any differences. We are here to set the record straight! Yes, the girls are identical...but yes, there are tons of differences! Here are a few that we've noticed:

Physical characteristics:
Blaire - Has a hemangiomia on her stomach (that is a birthmark that appears as a bright red patch of extra blood vessels in the skin -it grows during the first year of life and then recedes over time - Abby has/had one as well on her elbow). She has darker hair. She has a little blood blister on her chin.
Reagan - Both girls have lost almost 100% of their hair, but Reagan's is lighter. You can still see a very small part of her "soft spot" that has not closed up. Her finger nails grow like crazy.
They both have great vision and hearing. And they hold their heads up without any support. They are growing like weeds!!!! Tomorrow they have a Doc's appt and we will see what their weight is.

Playing:
Both girls love the mirror and looking at each other. But Blaire will kick Reagan - whenever she is the slightest bit close to her the legs go out and wham! Blaire loves tummy time, Reagan's learned to tolerate it but it isn't her favorite. They get a little "workout" every morning (now that we are back in our routine) that consists of arm/leg movements, and lots of other fun games with Mommy that use their body parts. They both love Peek-A-Bo. They both love hearing Abby read to them (which is something that happens every day...usually about 10 times a day, lol!). They will sit in their "bouncy" seats but don't like doing it too much lately - they'd rather be on the ground on a soft palette squirming around playing.

Travel:
They both love riding in the car...in fact, it almost always puts them both to sleep! It used to be a bit of an issue but the only problem now is when the big sister (who sits in her booster seat in the middle of the two infant car seats) wakes them up so she can say "See, Mommy - they ARE awake!")

Sleeping:
Both sleep great! At night, they are fed by 8 PM and put to bed. Every other night they get a bath (which they both love). They mostly fall sound asleep (the lights are off but they get lullaby music and a humidifier) and we don't see or hear them again until about 4 AM when they wake up to eat. Although both girls sleep on their backs (a must with newborns - don't get us started), Blaire would rather be on her tummy. It is rare the girls use a paci at night now, but they stay around the cribs just in case. During the day, the girls nap throughout but no where near the way they used to for the first month when they came home.

Attitude:
Blaire is a grump! But she will smile more than Reagan - she'll grin at anyone that makes eyes at her, ha!. Blaire even laughs out loud! Reagan is more spunky and active. It takes her a while to smile at strangers, but we see tons of smiles for Mommy and Daddy! Blaire has become a thumb sucker...and it's just too funny because her thumb is just so small! Reagan will suck her thumb but has decided she's not really a fan of either the thumb or the paci.

Daily schedule:
Basically their day is like this -
4AM: Wake up and eat (each eat about 6-7 ounces at this time), go back to sleep.
8 AM: Wake up for the day and eat (about 4 ounces at this time).
9-12PM: Play, exercises with Mommy, laugh, snooze a bit, cry, fuss, enjoy the morning, ha!
12PM: Eat (about 4-5 ounces at this time).
12-4PM: Same as above - play, talk, snooze, fuss, cry, ha!
4PM: Eat (about 4-5 ounces at this time)
7PM: Eat (about 5-6 ounces at this time), bath
8PM: Bedtime.
*We've heard some criticism about keeping a schedule, (most people tell us that we should let babies do what babies do, when they want to do it) but a schedule works for us...and seems to work for the girls as well!

The twins are still "stay at home" girls. They don't go anywhere except for doctor's appointments and rides to pick up their big sister from school. And they are only allowed to stay with Mommy or Daddy - no babysitters, friends or family yet. They are still preemies and you can never be too careful. They are 4 1/2 months old but have only received their 2 month shots...they need to keep gaining weight and get more shots before they can go to other people's houses, church, visits, etc. After watching them struggle in the NICU for 2 months, we don't chance anything around here....but with that being said....the big day is now just weeks away...they will soon be able to venture out into the world! Stay tuned for all of the other stories, information and humor that I'm sure these two will bring - and we plan to share!


Reagan Nichole Wade
(9/2/2010)


Blaire Elizabeth Wade
(9/2/2010)

Wordless Wednesday

Precious moments....precious memories.

Out with the old, in with the new...we have officially done it - we've moved! Although we signed on our new house back on August 26th, the buyers of our old house said they didn't need to move in until October 1st so we took our time with this move...although giving them plenty of time to move in when we said we could be out by September 19th. Which seemed like a long time, until the day popped up on the calendar! Last Saturday, September 18th, the movers showed up at our house a little before 9 AM and in the next 4 hours, everything went from 8992 Hwy 92 in Daleville to 113 E. Robertson Court in Enterprise. Less than a 15 minute drive away, but a world of difference! As we sat down that Friday night, only hours away from the movers coming, we couldn't help but think about all the times we've had in that house...the fun...the not so fun....the visitors...the parties...the holidays...the children...the yard...everything. We were definitely ready for the move, but it was weird to sit back and think that within only hours we would be leaving that house for the last time...although we were extremely happy and blessed to know that not only were we taking all of our belongings with us but also taking those precious memories. And we couldn't help but want to share a few with you....

December 29, 2003: Signing our names to become house owners for the first time...and finding out nope, we weren't changing the den carpet - ha!

Planting the "marriage bush" one Saturday afternoon.

The joys of painting a kitchen red...45 times as Eric says! LOL!

Sitting in the office one night covering 200 CDs with pictures only to find out after the fact that the CDs (wedding favors) didn't work and having to do it all over again a week later.

Barbara running through the backyard waving a supposed-to-be white shirt while screaming at Eric (while he was mowing) because she KNEW something was wrong with our water. Well water isn't supposed to turn clothes brown...unless your pump is busted!!

January 14, 2005: Newlyweds finally in their home together....life is good!

July 2005: Hiring the worst construction men in the world to put stone on the outside of the house...apparently they were cheap because they were so high on drugs they didn't know how to do business right.

A story that involves a dog, fire ants and a screaming lunatic throughout the side yard.

June 1, 2006: Seeing Eric smile and whisper "You're pregnant?" when he first found out he was going to be a Daddy for the first time.

Watching Abby grow up during the first 3 1/2 years of her life: crawling (in a weird army kind of crawl), walking (finally!), learning how to talk, eating in a high chair, finding out she's scared of thunder, potty training, gymnastics, etc.

Hearing Abby say "Cow" over and over...we were so excited until we realized she literally meant a cow was 2 inches away from the family room window looking at her!

Seeing that cow trample our marriage bush.

Not the best memory, but I'll (Barbara) never forget the exact two places I was sitting for the phone calls that Grams and Papere had passed away.

All of our parties: Christmas 2004, Halloween 2005-2009, bridal showers, baby showers, graduation dinners for two sisters and a brother, birthday parties, make-room-for-baby painting parties.

Watching Eric bring home all of his "babies": the Cub, the John Deere, the Acura and Chevy.

Playgroup...every party, every visit, every time a child laughed - it was awesome.

December 10, 2009: Sitting at the kitchen table (over an Arby's dinner) telling Abby that "there is a baby in Mommy's tummy"....12 days before we found out there were 2 babies in Mommy's tummy, ha!

Christmas morning 2009. Wonderful.

February 12, 2010: Eric (covered head to toe in camo) playing with Abby in the snow even though he was sick as a dog with the flu!

Looking into the nursery saying to each other "How are TWO going to fit in here?"

Pulling into the driveway with Reagan and Blaire (coming home for the 1st time) and seeing Abby run to the 4Runner to officially meet and touch her sisters for the first time.

All five of us sitting in the family room doing exactly what that room was meant to do...give family a place to enjoy being family!

************************************

And while we got to sitting around talking and thinking about some of our favorite memories (and trust us, the ones you just read are just a few...there are hundreds more we could list!! Ha!), we thought about some of the things we'd miss...and just how we are going to handle missing those things:

Eric will definitely miss his shop....but yet he now lives on a golf course - something tells us he traded up on that deal, ha!

Barbara will miss well water from the sink....but the garbage disposal is well worth the exchange! (No more scrap trips - woo hoo!)

Eric will miss mowing his large yard with his ride on John Deere...but he was satisfied when he found out that a new, shiny push John Deere works great at the new house!

We will miss carpet in the main family room...but Eric loves it that when Abby and Barbara walk through the room, he doesn't hear any heel stomping anymore!

We will miss the pull out drawers of the pantry....but will take the new kitchen over the old one any day of the week - especially when we have more cabinets and counter space than we know what to do with!

We will miss the big pecan tree in the front yard where we took tons of family pics...but this house has a walkway to the front door with a porch that will do well with pics, ha!

************************************

And alas, there are definitely things we won't miss at all:

The time of year called harvest that brings dust....and mice....and snakes....oh my!

The "country" animals that seemed to love the backyard...armadillos, mice, coyotes, cats, foxes, flying squirrels...and not to mention the cows that get out of neighboring pens every year and come to visit!

The days of a flooded front yard.

Having to spend 2 hours on mowing the grass.

The never closing mail box.

The house of only 4 closets.

Wrinkles the ghost.

Snowball the cat.

************************************

So....here we are - in a new house....one that we have already started to make into our home. And we are so thankful for this opportunity. We want to thank everyone that helped with this ordeal - from calls and well wishes, to helping us pack...from house warming gifts to visits to the new house...from being there when we closed the old house down, to being here when we opened the new house up...thank you! It has been the wildest year of our lives and this past month went by at warp speed. We are happy, we are healthy, and we are HOME!!!!

We will return (to the blog) after these brief messages...

Who's dat?

It has now been now exactly 9 weeks to the day that we brought the twins home to Enterprise. And with that being said, these 9 weeks have been a bit rough for Abby. She really has handled the homecoming well - only showing her trouble with the adjustment with a few potty "accidents" during the day. After about a week or so, those stopped. Then we told her we were moving. Seemed she was fine adjusting to that too - no accidents. Then we moved all of her toys, clothes, books and puzzles out of her room and into the new house. That did it - slowly but surely, in the last week, she has started showing signs of trouble. Now, before you even say it, the reason most of her stuff (we kept out a few of her favorite toys and books) has already been moved is because we spend a lot of time at the new house preparing it for the day of the big move. When we are there, she LOVES going up to her new room and playing for hours with her toys. But we come back to the old home for night time and the issues start. There have been 3 nights out of the last 7 that she has had full blown potty accidents in the bed - wetting her comforter, sheets, mattress pad and mattress....and then she has started coming into our room. Not including last night, the 3 nights prior she showed up about 2 AM and wanted to sleep with us. We told her no and she walked (reluctantly) back into her bedroom, but usually before 3 AM passed, we saw her by our bedside again. Our hope is that once we are 100% into the new house, she gets back into the groove of things...and those that we've talked to about this believe it is just an adjustment issue. So, for now, we have talked with her about the accidents, reminded her about how big girls act at night, and hope it is just a passing issue. But, with all of that being said, in the mornings, I've really treasured our one on one time together. She loves to come snuggle on my lap for about the first 30 minutes of her day - and I wouldn't give that up for the world! This morning, during our snuggle time, we were looking at pictures on my computer and I showed her one of my favorite all time pics (see below). Her response was priceless: "Mommy, who is that baby? Aw, she's so cute. We need to invite her over to our new home so she can meet my baby sisters. She will think they are so cute and she will want to be their friend." Man, I love that kid!

ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Yea, Alabama! Crimson Tide!
Every Bama man's behind you;
Hit your stride!
Go teach the Bulldogs to behave,
Send the Yellow Jackets to a watery grave!
And if a man starts to weaken,
That's a shame!
For Bama's pluck and grit
Have writ her name in crimson flame!
Fight on, fight on, fight on, men!
Remember the Rose Bowl we'll win then!
Go, roll to victory,
Hit your stride,
You're Dixie's football pride, Crimson Tide!

The season has BEGUN.....Roll Tide Roll!!!!!!!

Panther Pride

Are you ready for some football?????? Now even though our daughters are zoned to go to the Enterprise City School System, we are a bit partial to a few students that attend Wicksburg High School - in particular, one cute little Senior cheerleader that goes by the name of "JESS!" (It helps when you scream it at the top of your lungs and go running to her with your arms out ready for a big hug!) Tonight was the first home game at the WHS field and it was awesome! Although the team lost the game (by only 2 points!), it was a great game complete with being the WDHN's game of the week, lots of great cheerleaders, a great band (and awesome drum major), cool halftime show and wonderful fellowship with friends. I took Abby to the game while Eric stayed home with Reagan and Blaire. That kiddo knew so many people there - more than I did, ha! It was so much fun! She sat in the bleachers cheering and clapping...but I knew where her heart was - it wasn't long before she made it down to the railing in front of the cheerleaders. She jumped around dancing and clapping and had the time of her life. She was NOT happy at all when she heard that we had to leave...but it was waaaaaay past bedtime and as much as we love Friday night football in our house, we love happy-morning-toddlers-after-a-good-night's-sleep even more, ha! GO BIG BLACK AND GOLD!!!!!

Life Among The Pines

If you live anywhere near us, then chances are you've heard us yelling from the rooftop - WE ARE MOVING!!!! When God decided that we were going to raise three beautiful daughters, he also decided to talk to Eric about exactly where we were going to raise these girls, ha! After eight months of searching, walking, emailing, wheeling and dealing - we bought our new house! And I couldn't be prouder of my husband for making this happen! He had a goal, set out to achieve it, and did just that! He didn't settle (although some days he had both of us pulling our hair out over the deal) and because of that, we got exactly what we were dreaming of! On August 29, 2010, we signed the papers and became the new proud owners of a 3 year old, 2 story home on a cul de sac in the Tartan Pines subdivision in Enterprise...and have I mentioned how much we LOVE it? The girls have plenty of room to live and play, we have plenty of storage, and are only feet (yes, only feet) away from a pool and the golf course! We can't wait to make this house our home and plan to enjoy many long years of family, friends, faith and fellowship in our home! Welcome home!!!!!

Batter Up

With the summer closing down, baseball comes to an end and football gets a kick start...yet we find ourselves playing a game of not just catch, but rather catch up! It's been two weeks since we last shared the moments of our lives with you and although we'd love to say that it won't happen again, chances are it'll happen with the next post, ha! The past few weeks were definitely a whirlwind around here and it doesn't seem like it's going to slack off anytime soon...but that's just what we like - it's definitely game time! And as most games go, there is always a recap at the end to hit the highlights...here are a few of our highlights from the last 2 weeks:

Monday, August 16th -
Reagan and Blaire got to meet Dr. Sugg for the first time and they loved him! Especially the part where he commented on how gorgeous they were and how there is no ROP evidence so as much as he'd love to see their cute little faces in his office again, they are cleared from any more visits until April! Way to go girls! And way to go to the Big Sister who went with me to the appointment...the four Wade women managed to make it to the appointment ourselves on time and we were all cleaned, bathed, fed and dressed on top of that, ha! And it was also on this day that we celebrated the fact that 7 years ago, Eric got down on one knee and asked Barbara to marry him...the best decision he, I mean we, ever made - LOL!

Wednesday, August 18th -
Wordless Wednesday

Thursday, August 19th -
A big day for all of our girls! First, Reagan and Blaire headed off to the pediatrician for another preemie check up. They have grown so much since coming home 6 weeks ago. Right now they are both about 20 inches long; Blaire weighs 9 pounds, 1 and 1/2 ounces...Reagan weighs 8 pounds, 1 ounce. And it was time for vaccinations as well. The doc said they may get irritable - they did. The doc said they may have funky eating habits - they did. The doc said they may sleep a lot - they didn't. LOL! And then it was off to Back-to-school shopping for Little Miss Abby! She outgrew almost every pair of shoes she owned...in the last 2 months she's grown so much and we are so proud of her!



Saturday, August 21st -
Abby was able to get out and about and go to one of her favorite places...Aunt Heather's house for Cousin Whitney's 5th Birthday party! It was so much fun...she had cake, presents, the pool, the water slide and lots of loved ones celebrating the big day with her!

Monday, August 23rd -
School's back!!!! It was the first day of school for Abby. She is a proud member of the Duck Class at First United Methodist Church Mom's Day Out/Stepping Stones PreSchool in Enterprise, AL. And she love love loves it! Her favorite part: the teachers are the same ones from last year! You would have thought when Abby heard that she would have flown thru the roof she jumped so high in excitement! She loves her school...but sadly, this is the last year for her there at FUMC...although we know she is going to thoroughly enjoy it! (On a side note...Reagan loved having the peace and quiet around the house...Blaire hated it - she wanted Abby back ASAP and wasn't happy that day until her Big Sister was home!)

Tuesday, August 24th -
After joining their parents for a special "walk" in Enterprise, the twins got into their first argument...over who was going to date their newest friend first, LOL! Our friends, Chad and Christy, gave birth to their son, Jace Chandler, on July 26th...one week prior to the twins due date. So it's really easy for us to remember their corrected age - we just think about Jace!



Wednesday, August 25th -
Wordless Wednesday

Thursday, August 26th - We sold our house and bought a new one!!!!! We are pretty sure this bit of news will require it's own posting so we'll just leave it at that and come back to it in a little while! But before we leave it alone, I'll just tell you - we are one happy family!!!!!!

So...that pretty much catches you up on the last few days...we'll try our best to be a bit more timely with our updates but since this is just our first strike, it's back to the playfield for us!

...3 to get ready...

There's the Three Little Pigs, Goldilock's three bears, The Three Musketeers, the Three Blind Mice, Three's Company, the Three Wise Men, and of course the Holy Trinity...but today, we celebrated the number three for a different reason - the THREE months of life Blaire and Reagan have lived! Today marked their three month birthday! After hearing Abby sing to them over about 10 times this morning, they pretty much spent the day the way they spend most of their days - eating, pooping, sleeping, listening to Mommy and Daddy talk to them, looking in the mirror, playing on their tummies, doing leg and arm exercises, and trying to keep up with everything their Big Sister was doing. But what a day! Three months! And what a glorious three months it has been! They are healthy, happy and wonderful little miracles...and if you remember what their weight was last week, you know we use the term "little" in jest! And just to include you in on the celebration tonight, we thought we'd share with you a few things our identical twins DON'T have in common:

Sleeping: Reagan loves her back; Blaire is counting down the days she can lie on her side or tummy!

Eating: Blaire will finish 4-5 ounces in less then 20 minutes; Reagan takes her sweet precious time and finally knocks out 4 ounces in her allowed 30 minutes.

Pacifiers: Blaire would keep one in her mouth all day; Reagan only likes one if she thinks it's the bottle coming into her mouth...which only lasts about 10 seconds because she's no dummy! Ha!

Tummy time: Reagan can't stand it unless you put the mirror in front of her and she can check out her cutie patootie face; Blaire would spend all day on her stomach.

Size: Blaire weighs the most; Reagan still follows exactly 1 pound behind. However, Reagan is the longest - by 1/10 of an inch!

Car trips to the doc's office: Reagan will chill out in a vehicle without making a peep; Blaire feels it her place in the family car trips to take the title of the Lean Mean Screaming Machine.

Voice: Blaire's is deep and LOUD; Reagan's is high pitched and LOUD. Oh wait, that wasn't really much a different was it? Ha!

Attention: Blaire and Reagan will both respond to Mommy's and Daddy's voice so well; on the other hand, Abby runs from us - especially when she hears "What did I tell you to do?"

HAPPY THREE MONTH BIRTHDAY, OUR LOVES! WE LOVE YOU BOTH AND LOOK FORWARD TO MANY MORE MONUMENTAL DAYS IN YOUR LIVES!
LOVE, MOMMY, DADDY AND ABBY

Oh Baby, Baby!

Humor us for a minute and think about someone in your life that you know how they are going to act, or react, before something even happens to them. You know if they are going to be surprised (pleasantly or sometimes rather unpleasantly), you know if they are going to try and make it all about them (in times when quite frankly, it simply is not), you know if they are going to be supportive (or not), and you know if they are going to accept it (or not). In this house, we can pretty much tell you how Abby is going to react to something - and sometimes we can even tell you what she is going to say. For example, there are several phrases that we know are coming before she even says them: "Just the light, right Daddy?", "Did he say bodies?", "Is it water detectives?", "When I'm done, I'll tell you I'm done.", "Let's surf." We've now been home from the hospital with the twins for a little over 5 weeks and Abby has been a wonderful Big Sister. Visitors that see her comment a lot on how much she has physically grown in these last 5 weeks but it is her emotional and mental growth that impresses us. Before we brought Reagan and Blaire home, people would give us horror stories about bringing a younger sibling (or two) into the house - but Abby has handled it like a pro! In the first few weeks, every couple of days, she had a slight potty accident - she's been potty trained since she was 2 years old so we knew these accidents were definitely a sign of her reacting to all the redirected attention by family and friends. However, that's been the only negative we've seen with us changing the family dynamic. She really does constantly impress us. If she isn't helping, playing, reading, or talking with her sisters, she's doing it with her dolls. She practices bathing, diaper changes, feeding, etc. with her little babies. The one thing we've been waiting for is for her to decide instead of playing WITH a baby, she wants to BE a baby...after these 5 weeks - the wait is over! She absolutely cracked us up last night playing like she was a baby herself...it was all pretend with crying, whining, trying to use a pacifier, etc. but then she got the news that she was actually going to get to do something that the babies do...and when she heard what it was - you should have seen her face. In fact, we think you should...hope you get a giggle out of it as we did!

PS - And before you ask, the acting like a baby only lasted about 45 minutes. The remainder of the night she was back to being the "3 1/2 going on 13" year old that we know and love!

4 bits

Are you ready for some football? It's that time of year again. The leaves and weather may not officially be changing yet, but here in the Wade home we are on the countdown to football season. We can't wait to cheer on what we hope will be a winning season for all of our favorite teams...and speaking of cheering, our family's favorite cheerleader has begun her final year of cheering at Wicksburg High School here in the Wiregrass of south Alabama. Jessica is a senior - congrats class of 2011!!! And to honor her last year of cheering, we got all our girls (including Jess) together for a photog shoot for the WHS Football Program....and the results were definitely something to cheer about!

Fore his girls

Although "Date Day" wasn't supposed to start until this afternoon, it actually began at midnight this morning. If you live anywhere around us and you've ever been around Abby in a thunderstorm, you understand why it began almost 12 hours earlier than planned. When the bottom fell out of the sky a little after midnight, Abby was awake. And so were Blaire and Reagan. All three were not enjoying the early morning's activities. But wanna know who was asleep? Mommy! Daddy spent the first 2 hours of the day taking care of three of his girls while his fourth was sound asleep - and enjoying every second of it! When morning was officially here, the rain continued but the thunderstorms were over. By mid afternoon, the rain became a drizzle and Abby and Eric headed out to the golf course for a trip to the driving range and a half round of 9 holes. It was "fore" sure a great day!

Growing like weeds...

Who says that weeds aren't good things? Today the twins had another one of their pediatrician follow up appointments and the Big Sister tagged along as well. Everything was great and we received awesome news on both Blaire and Reagan - and praises for Abby too!

Blaire Elizabeth Wade
19 3/4 inches, 8 lbs 2 ounces

Reagan Nichole Wade
19 7/8 inches, 7 lbs 3 1/2 ounces

Abigail Lee Wade
40 inches, 37 lbs 6 ounces

Wordless Wednesday

In due time

It's Monday, August 2, 2010. Just another day where some begin a new work week, some start a new resolution for the beginning of a month, some start a countdown to the end of the month and some even let the day pass without another thought. To us, it is a day circled on our calendar. Why? Because nine months ago, we sat in our OBGYN's office and heard "Congratulations, you are expecting twins. They are due on August 2, 2010." At first, today's date was simply the date we anticipated the girls welcome home from the hospital. Then it became the date we prayed they'd be discharged from the NICU by. And now it's almost just another Monday...but not a date we're letting pass without an extra prayer of thanks, an extra snuggle or two with these miracles, an extra moment to hug the Big Sister and an extra sense of being truly blessed.

Daddy's Date

There is an old quote that goes something like this: Any man can be a father but it takes someone special to be a Daddy. In the last few months (or years for that matter) there have been times when our daughters definitely need their mother - but today was not that day. After talking and planning about this day for almost over a week, Abby and her Daddy set off on a special Saturday date. Just the two of them...no Moms or baby sisters allowed! They gave their goodbye kisses to those staying at home, and took off in Eric's truck - headed to lunch and the Ft. Rucker Aviation Museum. What a ball Abby had...and although the jury's still out on whether the "upstairs" or the "Jeep in the helicopter" was her favorite part, the verdict's definitely back on how much she loves her Daddy!