Melts My Heart!

My heart is goo...absolute goo. Some of you need to sit down before you read any further. I doubt some of you will be able to handle what is below. The other day the twins were eerily quiet. I came downstairs to find them like this:


Caden had managed to get right beside Jenna and fallen over to land right in her lap. Rather than cry that Brother was laying on top of her legs, she just sat right there and rubbed his ear! Caden, who doesn't sit still for anything on earth, just laid there and let her rub his ear for a solid 10 minutes. He looked like he was in Heaven. SO PRECIOUS! LOVE!LOVE!LOVE!

Little Facts: Caden

And today is Caden's spotlight day! I've tried to write his following the same outline as Jenna's post partly so I can remember everything and mostly so you can see how different the twins are! Here is Jenna's post if you haven't read it yet. To my favorite sub-20-pound man on earth:

Caden...(deep exhale)...you are something else. There is no dull moment with you around, this I know for sure. You have an adorable smile that involves you opening your mouth wide open instead of side to side :)


And you have a very mischievous smirk that you give with your eyes when your playing games with people.

You are very observant and love to look all around at new things when we go new places. You warm up to people quickly and easily, unlike your sister who takes in the scenery for a while before opening up. You LOVE looking up at lights, fans and balloons. You also have some crazy obsession with the outdoors. (As if you weren't just like your Daddy already). If you are having a tough day, all we have to do is go sit outside on the porch or go for a walk in the stroller. It works every.single.time.



Your eyes are definitely blue. You got them from your Daddy...Mom can take absolutely no credit for them.


You like to play on the floor with your toys...for a limited time...not endless hours like your sister. You definitely get bored more often and want to change the scenery often.

You are finally starting to notice and interact with your sister. And while she used to take your toys and steal your paci...you have recently started fighting back and snatching your paci right back from her! You both like to settle and trade paci's. Many many times a day, I walk in and find you with a pink pony in your mouth and a green frog in Jenna's!

I'm going to go ahead and claim that you are a bit of a mama's boy currently. I have no problem with this :)


Besides, we spent maaaany loooong days and nights together when we were trying to help you defeat your reflux. Speaking of reflux, it really did a number on you! You completely changed personalities on us for a few months! We are so glad to have you back now :) You are very happy and like to flirt with strangers. When people stop us in the store, you are the one that laughs and smiles back at them while Jenna stares at them like they are nuts.


You have very particular and funny tendencies. For instance, you will only drink your bottle empty if you are in a slightly reclined position, on the floor, with your milk steaming hot and someone rubbing your tummy. Yes, son, all of that! The most you will drink is 5 oz. You easily drool out 5 ounces an hour so mommy worries about your hydration. You seriously drool more than any other baby I know. Mommy asks her friends about it and no one seems to be able to soak their outfits and bibs as fast as you. You completely soak a bib, to the point of soaking your outfit underneath the bib, every hour. You act as though you could care less for your bottle most of the time, and become quite impatient until we get solid food in your mouth! You could eat 3 or 4 jars by yourself every meal if I let you.



You love to beat on things like a drum. Anything you can "clang" together or beat on to make noise makes you happy :) You are also obsessed with buckles/straps in between your legs! If you are fussy for some reason, and we un-snap your arms, you immediately start playing with the buckle from your carseat or high chair and grin ear to ear:)

You hate to be on your stomach. Let me repeat, HATE it. Mommy and Daddy have been trying to work with you for weeks to roll over on your stomach and as soon as you do, you immediately keep rolling to the other side. Your Doctor wants us to take you to a Physical Therapy session to work with you. You are strong as an ox and have the strength to do it...you just hate the pressure on your tummy. Your poor intestinal track is just not normal. Mommy thinks it wasn't quite right and completely developed when you were born. You have always had tummy troubles. 24 hours a day you have gas or burps. So no wonder you dont want any added pressure on your little tummy! As a result, you are no where near being mobile like your sister. You sit right where I put you:) You are my snuggler...you LOVE being held and cuddled.


I'm so glad my good sleeper Caden has come back. You are doing great now that we have the right combination of meds for your reflux! We lay you down at 7:30 pm and you may cry out once or twice thru the night, but you always soothe yourself back down now. You are the FIRST one up...every morning in between 7:00 and 7:30am. When you wake up, your ready to get up! No fun playing with toys or laughing for you. You might turn a little bit in your crib, but for the most part, you are just like we left you: on your side :)

You fall asleep every.single.time. we go for a ride in the car. Whether it is 3 hours to the beach or 10 minutes to the store. Something about the car just does it to you, bud!

You like to do things your own way on your own timing. You fought mommy when she tried to teach you how to put puffs in your mouth. 2 weeks later, you decided you were ready and now you are a pro:) You are a man of many faces. We called you "Old Man Krinkle" when you were born and even still you are so animated in your facial expressions!Here are a few:






On a side note, you were the most adorable, most handsome, best dressed man in the audience at Aunt Robin's Wedding (Sorry Brad!)



Your trying to figure out if you like the water or not. Jenna splashes you the whole time you are in the tub so you dont know what to think. :)


You are so white, boy! Your skin is so fair. Esp when Mommy or Daddy hold you. :)


Next to your light colored skin and your blue eyes...you are such a handsome young man! You have two lightly colored birth marks: one under your left eye and one right above your right knee. They are hard to see. You have finally grown hair on the top of your head...it is a very light brown / sometimes blond in the light! If you got one thing from your momma it is her hair texture. (sorry). It is so rough, frizzy and course! Mommy secretly hopes it will be curly like hers since Jenna appears to have stick straight hair like Daddy.

You have incredible posture when you sit up! It is because you are so very strong and have so many muscles!


We have certainly traveled some bumpy roads already in your short 9 months, but you have taught us how to be better, more patient, more understanding parents. We are so thankful for those lessons and for you! We love you Caden!

Little Facts: Jenna

So I thought it would be fun to do individual posts again of the twins since everything in our life right now is in "two's." The past several months have revealed how night-and-day / black-and-white our children are! It is such a blast to see little glimpses of the personalities God has assigned them. Today we will focus on my first born, Miss Jenna O'Neal then come back in a few days for Caden's big post.

Jenna, Jenna. You are so carefree and joyful! Papa T nicknamed you "Joyful Jenna" because you are always smiling and laughing. As SOON as someone you know walks in the room, you flash a huge, melt-your-heart grin.


On the other hand, if you are in a new place that is loud and people swarm up to you, you shriek out and flash an adorable yet terrified face :). You can already use your big eyes to get what you want or make someone feel like an idiot. haha.


We can't tell what color your eyes are still! One day they are blue, the next they are brown, but most of the time they are a strange hazel in the middle / blue on the outer ring. So unique! You are content to play on the floor with your toys for hours! You love your brother and you stare at him, talk to him, laugh at him and steal anything he has out of his hand. You have turned into the dominant personality between you and your brother. Baby A syndrome? (haha jk).



Speaking of love, you are infatuated with Uncle Brad. Every time he comes around you just stare at him in amazement. It is quite adorable :)


You are my best bottle drinker. You had to learn how to fend for yourself early and quickly because Brother was giving Mommy a hard time drinking his bottle. So, in typical Jenna fashion, you learned what to do quickly and learned to hold your own bottle. Sometimes I catch you holding your bottle with ONE hand chugging it down, and just the other day I caught you holding your bottle with your feet. Silly Monkey! We think you will be a soccer player the way you do everything with your feet and have such great hand/foot/eye coordination! You pick up things with your feet, play with things with your feet, and ALWAYS have them twirling in circles. You love to play on your stomach and roll around the room. You have turned into my wiggle-worm! You do not even want to be held alot anymore b/c you want to roll and explore on your own. You talk and coo to yourself and sometimes you make yourself laugh! You would rather drink your formula than eat solid foods, but you deal with it. You eat a great variety and you swallow it with no problem. However, you let me know your done much sooner than endless-tank-Brother.


You are an amazing sleeper. We put you down at 7:30pm and you sleep, play or lay contently until Mommy comes to get you the next morning. Mommy can't remember one time where you were the first to cry out in the morning to get you up. You must do somersaults in your crib, b/c every time I check on you you are in a different position, facing a different way, at a different end of the crib. Your go-to sleep position is on your belly, butt hiked in the air.


You have figured out how to turn your mobile on by bang-kicking it with your feet. Notice how your mobile is now hanging crooked after you are done with it:)


You are very easy to teach. So far, you have a very moldable spirit about you. You love to learn new things like the walker, and picking up puffs and getting them to your mouth! (ha). You do a very funny hyperventilate thing when you get excited.

As everyone has seen, you love the water! You immediately knew what to do the first time we put you in the pool...and you never stopped kicking and splashing with your hands! You love bath time.


Your skin is still a beautiful olive and your little legs are turning Indian Princess Brown from all of our walks in the stroller! Your skin is SO SOFT. We comment about it all of the time. It makes you a great snuggler when you take a break from your exploring.

You have an adorable birth-mark on your left shoulder.


You have sprouted lots of dark brown hair! You have a very thick section of hair on the top of your head. It has started drying straight up giving you a mohawk!


You still have crazy-long eyelashes that neither mommy nor daddy know where you got them from.

You will be crawling any day now. You are soooo close. Mommy is not ready for this so she has not been encouraging you to crawl :) You like to "click" your tongue...Nana says it is your special language with her. You also have started making a funny nose-wrinkle face.


And, Girl, you LOVE watching TV...whether it is the Price is Right for your lunch bottle as seen below:), a Baby Einstein DVD or the evening news...you are glued!



Look at your face! Must have been some good TV!



You dont have very good posture sitting up...your so cute and cuddly and fluffy you are kind of slumped over. Its adorable though :)



You are my "Chatty-Kathy." You are the more vocal twin and you love to talk and "da-da-da-da" in the crib for a while before you fall asleep at naptime. I will not let you forget the mini-terror you were for about a month in the beginning...you cried every night from 8-11pm straight! After growing out of this phase though, you have blossomed into such an easy baby! One of you would be a piece of cake, walk in the park, but we would never trade having brother with us for anything! You compliment each other perfectly. We love you so much Jenna Girl!

A Baby-less Weekend!

Yep! This mama had her first real time away from her babies this past weekend. Every year, a very special group of friends and I find time to go away on a little trip. After I had the twins, the big question was raised: would we have to skip our Outing 2011? Answer: NO! Things were made much easier by the fact that I'm not nursing anymore. Ryan was so gracious and supportive of me getting out of town that I didn't worry a bit! I made sure we were stocked, had clean clothes, laid out clothes(complete with sticky notes) and a food cheat-sheet, then I hit the road! We decided to go to the beach and have a low-key weekend. Jenn and I left our babies for the first time, MB and Jess with-stood the heat being very pregnant and Caitlin left her two four-legged babies to meow and search around the house for her and her husband to cook for himself. haha:)

We had so much fun! I ate more this past weekend than I have the past month for sure. How nice to sit down and just eat! It was nice to sit down and finish a conversation too:) AND what a treat to speak in Adult-voice all weekend!

Our trip started with a bang by trying out a new restaurant thoroughly approved by Caitlin. Then we arrived to the beach house to find...yep, that's a bullet hole! We had fun analyzing the new police officer straight out of high school who came to investigate (They say it was just kids being foolish / accident). Then we threw Jessica a "Pink" Shower since she is expecting her 2nd child / 1st little girl! We made a fondue platter that puts Melting Pot to shame. We enjoyed Caitlin's homemade cinnamon rolls, shopping around Southport, trying out new restaurants, watching movies in the middle of the day, playing and walking on the beach.








Here are the two soon-to-be-mama's


The other girls have better pictures...but wanted to share this, thank the girls for a good time and most importantly thank my loving, awesome husband for taking on the twins for a weekend!