Best Place on Earth

Over the New Year Weekend, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed East...to the Beach! I was sooo excited to take the twins to the beach, it is my favorite place on earth! I've always dreamed of taking my kids to the beach and making memories there. I was so excited, I started packing at the beginning of the week :)

On Thursday, Aunt Robin, me and the twins packed up the car and hit the road...the twins did so well - they slept the entire drive! Gigi and Papa T followed behind in case we had a crisis :)Ryan and Brad came down after work Thursday night. We had a great time enjoying the weather...we even sported short sleeves one day it was so warm! We took walks in the stroller, swings in the hammock, and quiet time in the rocking chairs. It was awesome! As usual, Ryan and I had a wonderful relaxing time since we had so much help with the twins...it is soooo nice to just sit down because other folks are around to go check on the babies when someone starts crying. We had to adjust our usual lifestyle at the beach by eating in more since we had some new additions...but we loved it! (don't worry, we still made it to Dairy Queen...rest assured).



The photo below is how we found Papa T when we came back from eating one night. He insisted that he stay home with the twins while the girls went out and enjoyed some seafood...looks like everything is under control to me ! :)



Of COURSE we had to go out on the beach and have a photo shoot...the twins' first time seeing the Ocean...2 months old was waaaay too long, but we have taken care of that now :)

** Shout out to Aunt Robin for going bonkers on our new camera and taking all of these awesome shots...

I had forgotten to take the twins' 2 month old picture, so we squeezed that in too :)






If there was any downside to our trip it was the fact that Ryan and I had roommates..the twins! We put their pack-n-play in our room and heard every noise they made all night. We never had them in our room once we came home from the hospital, so this was new to us! With two babies...someone is always moving or grunting or making a noise! We didn't sleep well at all...so much so that Gigi and Papa T offered to have the pack n play moved in their room New Years Eve night (our 2nd night there). We jumped on that and went to bed at 10:30....glorious! We laughed at how we are such old parents already...sleeping through NYE. :) Gigi and Papa T learned how noisy the twins were so they found their way back into our room the next night :) Ryan and Jenna had some bonding time with a 6:00 am stroller ride...bless her heart. The family teamed up together and took care of the babies one morning so I could sleep in a bit.

There is NO better way to wake up than this...



We had such a wonderful time at the beach....me and my mom are eagerly looking to the weather for any warm weekend so we can pop in the car and go! We are sooo thankful the Lord has provided this retreat for us to go to...we look forward to making many, many memories at Oak Island!

Trial Run for Uncle B and Aunt C

Over the Christmas Break, Uncle Brent (Ryan's Younger Brother) and Aunt Courtney spent the night with us one night to help us with the twins. All was going well and predictable until Ryan decided to go to bed early since Brent / Courtney could help me with feeding and getting the twins in bed. After some initial hesitation, Brent agreed to feed Caden his bottle...after all Caden is the easy one to feed remember? Courtney was ready to accept the challenge of spit-up Jenna. After 10 minutes of feeding, all chaos broke loose on poor unsuspecting Brent / Courtney. :) In a matter of 10 minutes all of the following occurred:

1- Caden is incredibly fussy and squirmy not wanting to finish his bottle.
2- I tell Brent to pick him up and maybe burp him !?
3- Caden proceeds to throw up...NOT spit up on Brent...all over Brent :)
4- I am laughing hysterically while Brent is sitting covered in throw up. I go to help Brent out and pick up Caden. He apparently was holding the best for mama.
5- Caden up-chucks all over me and I mean all over me :)
6- Over in the corner, Courtney says she thinks Jenna has a dirty diaper. I say she probably doesn't b/c Jenna has turned into a store-n-save...she only has a dirty diaper every 3 or 4 days.
7- Courtney re-adjusts Jenna and finds her hand covered in....poo! Jenna proceeds to have major intestinal blowout all over her outfit and on Courtney.

By now it is midnight and I'm getting the bathtub run for Caden...we salvage Jenna enough to give her a bath in the morning. What a trooper Uncle Brent and Aunt Courtney were! I told them if they could handle those 30 minutes...they are already a leg up for any future little " Littles " in their family.

Battle Wounds Documented:

The Twins' 1st Christmas...Post 3

Christmas Day!

...it started for us pretty early...as in midnight early. With the craziness of Christmas Eve, our last feeding of the night ended up falling at Midnight. So we had a *quick* celebration...just long enough to get it on video, then back to bed!

**since the video is a bit dark, the first baby is Jenna, the second half of the video is Caden. Turn up your volume, Caden has a Christmas present caught on tape:)

Merry Christmas Morning from Casey Little on Vimeo.

The second time we woke up on Christmas morning was a little more alert :) We fed the twins and got them ready to go. We were going to put them back in their crib to sleep until we left, but then we were like duh! no way! They sat in the room with us while me and Ryan opened our gifts. I didn't need to open anything...my two presents were sitting right in front of me:




We got ready and headed to stop #1: Nana and Papa's! We had an awesome time eating a delicious brunch and opening gifts with Ryan's two brothers and their families. The aunts, uncles, and cousins loved seeing the twins and were sooo sweet helping us take care of the babies throughout the day.












Next we headed to stop #2: my Aunts house for my Mom's side of the family celebration. We had our cousins from VA down to love on the babies and got to introduce them to our other cousins! Again, I don't think we held the twins most of the night...but they were little angels just smiling and cuddling with whoever held them. The twins present corner was out of control...they got waaaay to much stuff! We are so blessed to have such a loving family pour out so much love on our kids. We opened present after present while the babies just slept away....




Ryan testing one of the shake-n-make-noise toys the twins got...








Uncle Brad and Caden having some guy time




Uncle Brad wanted in on the burp-cloth-hat fad!




Last stop...#4! Christmas night we went to my parents house to spend the night..we've done this since we were married and it works out great ! We can spread out and spend quality time with everyone on Ryans side and mine. This is what we woke up to Christmas morning!




Don't think this kept our fearless warrior from getting out and finding an open starbucks...Merry Christmas!



Snuggle had to hang out in his crate while we opened presents...too many temptations!







There was a theme this year for our gifts...household items! With all of the time my mom and sister have spent at our house helping us...they picked up on somethings we need around the house. Hilarious!

COFFEE...



A toilet brush downstairs...my mom said she was sick and tired of transporting our one unit up and downstairs cleaning bathrooms :)



A trashcan that can hold more than one days worth of trash!






Do you think its our size !?



Out attempt at a family photo, including my poor baby girls' hourly spit up caught on camera:






By the way, at any given moment during the Holidays...this is how you could find my hubby:



He had so much fun learning our new camera and documenting the twins' 1st Christmas!

The Twins' 1st Christmas...Post 2

Every year for Christmas Eve, we go to the Little's side of the family. We always have a good time with Mema, Pape, Aunts, Uncles and cousins...we were so excited to finally bring kids to the celebration! Once we stepped in the door...I dont think we held the twins more than 5 minutes! We are so thankful for all of the love our family pours out on us and our precious babies. The babies did great and snuggled up with whoever was holding them at the moment (which wasn't me or Ryan most of the time haha)

I think Mema and Pape liked the pictures we gave them of the babies!



Cousin Evan Cheesin'



I love this picture of Papa and Jenna Girl!





Cousin Derek holding Jenna




What is this!? I'm holding one of my children!?




Driving home to our house on Christmas Eve was so fun...I felt like a kid again excited for the next day except this year, I already knew what my present...or I guess I should say "presents" were :)