The Happiest...and most Stressful...place on Earth

As most everyone knows, we recently took a trip to Disney World with Gary's entire family to celebrate Mimi's 50th birthday!  As the title indicates, the trip was a little bit stressful for mom, but we had an awesome time, and it was so good to see everyone and for the girls to meet their cousins, Reganne, Riley, and Connor, their aunts, Tonia and Jen, and uncles, Jason and Jared!  We also spent a lot of time with Mimi, Grandpa, Aunt Sabrina, Uncle Clayton, Haley, Aunt Melissa, and Uncle Whit!  Unfortunately, only Aunt Sheryl and Uncle Ryan were unable to attend!

We started the trip off with our first commercial airplane trip, and boy was that an adventure!  After being "disassembled" and searched by security, we lugged all of our gear and made it safely onto the plane.  The girls both SLEPT, which probably doesn't seem like much of a surprise, but, considering that we've never held them to go to sleep, I was pretty nervous!  After we arrived, we went to our hotel and let the girls and dad have a quick nap before heading out to meet the family at Downtown Disney for dinner.  The girls did great, but were getting obviously sleepy, and finally passed out in their strollers while we did a little bit of shopping and ate ice cream! 

The next day started out kind of dreary, so, after a restless night in the pack-n-plays, we all slept in a little.  Once we got up, we headed to Sea World to meet up with the family!  We went to the Shamu show and then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring what Sea World has to offer.  The girls had their first carousel ride, and Mom and Dad had an awesome time riding the 2 roller coasters at the park while Mimi and an assortment of others (:-))helped watch the girls!

After leaving Sea World, we headed straight over to City Walk to attempt to catch the reservation for all 18 of us at Margaritaville...not surprisingly, we were late, so we had to find food elsewhere, and ended up at Bubba Gump's for Mimi's birthday dinner.  The girls were EXHAUSTED and fussy, so mom spent a good portion of the meal in the gift shop "bouncing" them to sleep...only to have Makayla wake up the minute I put her in the stroller...thankfully, Uncle Clayton had finished eating so he took her for a quick stroll and was more successful than I, since she stayed asleep long enough for mom to finish her meal and have her much needed margarita that she ordered at the beginning of the meal!  :)

The next day, we woke up much earlier and made it out to join Haley, Sabrina, Clayton, Melissa, and Mimi for breakfast with Chef Mickey and friends.  The girls watched in amazement (or confusion!?) while the various characters came by for visits, and Haley had an awesome time getting everyone's autographs and pictures!  Besides watching Haley enjoy it so much, the best part was watching Makayla as she tried her best to get a good chew on Pluto's paw and Donald's beak!

After breakfast, we rode the tram in for some fun at the Magic Kingdom!  We took the girls on their first ride, "It's a Small World", and they decided that it was 11am and needed to eat ON SCHEDULE...and the ride wasn't going to distract them like we thought it might!  :)  Luckily, Aunt Sabrina helped make bottles and we started their meal right there in the boat! 

After that, we spent much of the day walking around and trying to keep the girls occupied.  The poor babies were exhausted, and did a great job of catnapping in the stroller, but just couldn't catch up from their 3 day adventure! Grandpa and Mimi watched the girls while mom and dad rode a couple of rides, we all met up for lunch, and then finally got everyone in the same spot for a group picture before it was time for us to head out to catch our flight home.

The trip home was similar to the trip out, except that we started out with a good scream from Makayla...the poor girl was EXHAUSTED!!  She finally passed out and I don't think she woke up completely until Monday!  Macy slept through the flight as well, and both girls went right to sleep happily in their cribs as soon as we put them down!

Over all, it really was a fun trip, and it was so good to see everyone!  We hadn't seen Reganne and Riley since May, and Connor since July, so it seemed they had grown into completely different people!  It was so much fun watching them and Haley enjoy Disney the way it's meant to be!  We were also really excited for the girls to meet their aunts, uncles, and cousins!  I think Mimi really enjoyed time with the family, and we were all really happy to be able to help her celebrate her big day!  We look forward to making the trip again in a couple of years when the girls can appreciate things as much as their cousins did this time around!

Now on to the next adventure!!!

More Food, Please!

The girls are still loving their solid foods, and today had their first taste of bananas (we did eventually mush them up, but they loved sucking on the whole thing!) Here are a few additional pics!

Roly Poly

(Unfortunately, due to some technical difficulties, this post is already a little bit out of date...hopefully we'll have new updates to cover our big family trip to Disney World soon!)

We've rolled right into the new year doing our favorite thing...rolling over.   Both girls have mastered the art of rolling from their backs to their stomachs, and have become pretty good at going the other direction as well...unfortunately, they often still think they're "stuck" on their stomachs, but, amazingly enough, when they're not trying, they can roll all the way across the living room without any trouble!  Their head and neck control is fantastic, and they love to prop themselves on their arms and look around.

Macy has finally broken free of the swaddle blanket for the last time, and now prefers sleeping flat on her face...a trait she must have taken straight from her mom.  Makayla's had a nap or two without her swaddle "protection", but somehow, she usually ends up wrapped tightly in her "miracle" blanket.  I think she's still just not quite comfortable letting her little arms and legs relax!  As long as she sleeps, we're not complaining, although it will be nice when swaddling is a thing of our past!

The girls are getting more and more interested in their new toys from Christmas, and we're finally figuring out the best way to play with the toys is by sitting in our bumbo seats. As they get stronger, their duration for this type of play gets longer.  I'm pretty sure they'll both be sitting up before we know it, so play time will only get better! 

The girls have also developed an affection for the exersaucer and the door bouncer...especially when they're close together so that they can "talk"!  We've temporarily set up the bouncer so that it can hang in the kitchen, so the girls have a grand ole time hanging out while mom and dad eat lunch!

And speaking of "talking", both Makayla and Macy have started finding different parts of their voices, and it's pretty funny to watch them entertain themselves practicing.  Here's a snippet of some of Makayla's new sounds (unfortunately, you can't see Macy's face that well, but you get a good view of her crazy, patchy hairdo!)

Other than that, we've spent a lot of time indoors trying to get completely over our round of colds and staying out of the ridiculously cold weather.  It's finally gotten warm enough this week that we've bundled up for a couple of quick walks, but we'll all be SO glad when spring arrives!

Aside from all of the rolling and bouncing, the biggest news is that the girls have begun the switch to solid food and they LOVE it (they're not really eating celery just yet, but they do like chewing on mommy's celery and carrots!)!  We started with rice cereal a week or so ago, and, while the spoon feeding itself was a change, the girls have been eating rice in their bottles for over a month, so it wasn't too much of a surprise to their taste buds.  Over the last 2 weeks, we've tried sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and carrots.  The girls LOVE what they've discovered...except for the carrots, which didn't seem to agree with Macy very well.  Those have been stashed in the freezer to try again later!  We'll be progressing through a variety of new cuisine options over the next few weeks, so it'll be interesting to see what turns out to be their likes and dislikes!

Happy New Year!

We finished our Christmas celebrations with lots of goodies, way too much to eat, and...unfortunately, bad colds for the whole family! Poor Macy and Makayla have been sick for a couple of weeks now, and when they got worse on NYE, we took them to the doctor to find out that their colds had turned into ear infections. Mom and Dad have had their bouts with the cold as well, so we'll be happy to see this pass...hopefully it's almost gone for all of us!

To back track and summarize the girls' amazing first Christmas, we started off on the 23rd with a Christmas gathering for Papaw Stanley's family at Grandma and Papaw's house. The girls were able to meet several of their newest cousins, and spend time with aunts, uncles, and cousins galore. The girls got their first official Christmas presents and we all enjoyed time with our very large family!
On Christmas Eve, we had our usual celebration with Grandma Pam's family at Mamaw Eunice's house. As always, this was a great time, and the girls got to spend a lot of time with Mamaw Eunice, cousins, aunts, and uncles from that side of the family as well. Makayla hung out for a while with Aunt Crystal, Macy hung out with cousin Hillary, and the girls spent more time figuring out their cousin Emmy Cate! Uncle Terry was the first brave soul to pose with all three of the little ladies at once! :)

Most of the best pics from Christmas morning were posted in the last post, but the girls woke up to find a nice assortment of gifts from Santa, Mom and Dad, Uncle Jared, Aunt Tonia, Connor, Uncle Jason, Aunt Jen, Reganne, and Riley! The big gift from Santa was a red wagon that they can ride around the neighborhood together in this spring and summer! They're a little unsteady in it for now, but it'll be perfect for them once they've mastered sitting up! After opening gifts and FINALLY getting a good nap, we headed to Grandma and Papaw Childers' house for Christmas lunch and to (very quickly) exchange gifts with Grandma, Papaw, Uncle Nathan, Aunt Lauren, and Emmy Cate. The girls got way too many awesome gifts, and we'll be playing with "new" toys for months to come!

The day after Christmas, we loaded up the 210 (airplane) and headed to Gainesville! We made what is likely to become our "traditional" trip to Mellow Mushroom, and then headed to Mimi's house! That evening, Great Grandma Carol and John came into town from Missouri as well, so we got ready for several fun days with the family!

Unfortunately, Saturday after Christmas, the girls' colds set back in with a vengeance. Poor Makayla completely lost her voice, and both girls obviously just felt pretty lousy. Despite the colds, they still tried to play and have fun with family, and still enjoyed "opening" lots of additional gifts. Everyone was so overwhelmingly generous, and we haven't even made a dent in all of the new clothes and toys to play with! (Unfortunately, being the worried mom that I was with 2 sick little ones, I didn't get as many good pics from the time in Georgia as I would have liked!) The adults had a good time too, with a fun game of "Dirty Santa", where the "hot item" was a gopher grabber. Since everyone else was feeding the girls, Whit was finally able to get in on some of the feeding activities himself! :)

We came back home on Tuesday, and by Thursday had decided that a trip to the doctor was necessary, since the girls both seemed to have eye infections and were pretty unconsolable with their cries and whines. Makayla was checked for ear infection, and, yep, she was having her first bout with that. We got some antibiotics, and by the time we got home we were sure Macy was having the same misfortune. Both girls are on the medicine now, and seem to FINALLY be doing better.

Because of the sickness, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day was completely uneventful for the girls, and Grandma Pam came and babysat so mom and dad could get a little bit of much-needed time out for dinner. We went with the neighbors to an awesome dinner at 131 Main, then came back to our friends Dave and Gina's to ring in the new year. Unfortunately, mom and dad were exhausted from multiple nights of interupted sleep (due to sick babies in the same room!)and Christmas travels, so mom was home and sound asleep before midnight...for the first time EVER! And Dad wasn't far behind...I think all was quite in the Ernst household by 12:20! Things are NOT what they used to be! :)

We've had such a wonderful holiday season, and Gary and I are so amazed at how much more awesome the holidays can be now! God has blessed us with awesome family, wonderful friends, and the most amazing little girls we could ask for! Now we look ahead to a new year as parents, and can't wait to watch the girls as they grow through their first full year of life! Happy New Year to All!

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to post a few quick pics of the girls' First Christmas! It's been such a special day, and we have all been so truly blessed! The girls have had a wonderful time celebrating with family over the past few days. They've gotten so many wonderful gifts...and they aren't even half way done yet!

There will be lots of additional pictures and details to follow, but, for now...

Christmas Blessings to all!!

Love, Macy, Makayla, Gary, and Mandy

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Since Thanksgiving, the girls have watched as we prepare for their first Christmas. Of course, they're too young to understand what all the fuss is about, but they really are excited to have a lit up tree in their own home! :)

The girls are getting so interactive, and LOVE to coo and smile. Macy's even started laughing! (this isn't the best video, but Gary shot it with his phone while waiting on shots at the Dr's office!)They both want to put everything in their mouths, especially Makayla, and drool flows with abundance around our house! They love to grab things with their hands, including one another. It's not uncommon at all to find them holding hands...or feet! :) We've started sitting them in their bumbo seats for small increments of time, and it's pretty entertaining to watch their little heads sway and lean, but their control gets better each day. We've also started getting them used to their exersaucer and tried out their door bouncer for the first time this morning! Makayla seems to get the hang of it really well, and Macy's definitely intrigued, but not nearly as sturdy.

It's so amazing to watch the differences in the two girls...their personalities are so distinct, with Macy still being the little fire-ball with a temper like her mom's, but the one who's the first to laugh and giggle at any silly face or noise. Makayla's the more somber of the two, but still not short on smiles! She's less interested in rolling over or holding her head up during "tummy time", but the most interested in standing up whenever and however she can! Macy, on the other hand, is desparately focused on rolling over, anytime, day or night! She's very focused and concentrates very heavily on whatever she's working on...be it rolling over or just lining up her fingers and toes...and she can get so frustrated when she has trouble accomplishing whatever she's trying to do...I'm pretty sure she inherited at least some of her dad's OCD!!! :)

Naps can still be brief sometimes, but sleeping through the night is now consistent, so you won't hear us complaining! Unfortunately, we are still forced to swaddle the girls so that they will sleep, and many nights they wake up only because they've come un-swaddled. All it takes is a quick visit to thier room to re-swaddle and whoever's awake immediately goes back to sleep. I'm amazed at how proficient I've become with the miracle blanket in the pitch darkness!

December started with a week without Daddy as he went away for his last long trip for the year. It wasn't a fun week, but things are getting much easier than they once were! We got out of the house for a few quick errands, including a visit to see Mamaw Eunice, but besides that, we mostly just hung out around the house avoiding the cold, damp weather! After Daddy got home, we took a day trip up to Banner Elk and Blowing Rock. Unfortunately, it was pretty cold, so we didn't get any good pics, except for one landscape shot of the pretty blue color that gives our blue ridge mountains their name!

The girls have made it to church several times now, and so far, no loud breakdowns. Mom's been pretty nervous to take them by herself, but they're becoming experts at it, so I'm thinking we'll be able to make it more consistently from now on. We've missed going to church each week and the girls have a lot of new friends waiting for them there! :)

The girls were dedicated this past Sunday, along with their friends Taylor and Emma! Everyone was super cute in their adorable dresses, and they behaved so well for the service! (I'm hoping to get a lot more pictures, and I'll post them when I do, but these were all I had for now!) The girls got to meet thier great-aunt Sally who came to see them for the first time, and then we were fortunate to have Grandma and Papaw Childers, Mimi and Grandpa Jim, Sabrina, Clayton, Haley, and Aunt Sally all to attend the service with us. It was a great day!

We went to the doctor Monday for our 4 month checkup, and, again, the girls checked out perfectly! Macy's still a little heavier at 13.6 lbs, while Makayla is close behind at 13.3 lbs. They both fall at the 50th percentile, so they're right on track. Macy's head's still bigger, but both girls have big noggins, falling in the 75th percentile for head size :) Makayla's 1/2 inch taller at 24.5 inches, but, again, both girls fall in the 50th percentile for height as well! We're very happy with our "average" statistics! The girls recieved their 2nd round of immunizations, and that was no more fun than was expected, but we survived, and followed the doctor visit up with a quick trip to see Santa! It was a great time to see him, since we were able to just walk right up! From what I hear, doing this on a weekend can take hours, but we were done in minutes! One more benefit of mom not working the 9-5! :)

So Much for Which to be Thankful

The girls celebrated their first Thanksgiving this year in Georgia with Daddy's side of the family, and they had a really nice time!

Rather than driving in Thanksgiving traffic, the girls took their first plane rides! Mom was pretty worried about popping ears, loud noise, etc, but the girls handled the trip perfectly! Dad knew they'd be natural flyers, so he just popped in the pacis and expected the best!! :) Grandma and Papaw Childers and "Uncle" Todd met us at the airport to see us off and wish the girls a Happy Thanksgiving prior to our trip.

We arrived in Gainesville Wednesday afternoon and the girls had another first...lunch at Dad's favorite restaurant, Mellow Mushroom! I think the girls enjoyed the pizza! :)

After that, we headed to Mimi and Grandpa's house, where we stayed and mostly just hung out for the entire weekend. Thanksgiving Day was very nice, and we got to enjoy [over] eating the delicious Thanksgiving assortment of food and spending time with family. EARLY Friday morning, all of the other ladies of the house headed out for a little bit of Black Friday shopping...Haley and the Ernst girls (including Mom) decided to stay in bed! :) On Saturday, Gary and I, Sabrina, Clayton, Whit, and Melissa enjoyed a kid-free afternoon watching the Mountaineers progress to the second round of playoffs while Mimi and Grandpa hung out with the kids. Saturday night, we all took a trip to the "Magical Nights of Lights" on Lake Lanier Island. The girls slept through the lights, but will have something "new" to look forward to next year...and then we were able to get a few good Christmas photos with the girls and Haley before saying our goodbyes for the weekend.

As usual, this is a good time for us to think about and thank God for ALL of the amazing things that he's given us...We've had such blessed lives...And still, as much as we've had to be thankful for in the past, it's unbelievable how much richer our lives are now that we've had a chance to meet and begin sharing life with Macy and Makayla!