Day 14

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!!!!!!

Here is Annie on her 1st Canada Day:

And Elizabeth with her big smile that we LOVE!!!

And the most handsome little boy in the world:

Annie checking out Elizabeth:

Elizabeth checking out Annie:

And finally the two of them looking at us!

Mark and Annie. He didn't even try to attack her once!

All 3 of our kids!!!!!

And the cutest twins ever!

Today we just hung out and then Daddy took the twins to one of their favorite parks where they played really well. Little Mark made friends with 16 month old identical girl twins...I sense trouble ahead for that little flirt! I was sure homesick today, I hate missing out on all the July 1st celebrations:( At least my parents will be here in a couple days!!!! WOOHOOOOO (as my mom would say!)!!

Day 13

Here is Daddy with his girls:

And another picture of Grandma B with Annie:

Mark said another new word today...thank you! We were eating breakfast and when he handed me his food that he no longer wanted to eat (my way of keeping him from throwing it all on the floor) he said thank you, clear as can be! Grandma B and I looked at each other so surprised!! All day he walks around picking gross stuff off the floor and bringing it over to me saying 'yucky' (a word only I understand) and I always say thank you. Now he picks that stuff up and before he even hands it to me he is saying thank you! Sometimes it's really clear, other times it's not, either way it's really cute!!

The kids were tired and grumpy tonight so this isn't their best performance but here it is anyway! They are great at pointing out all the different things in books. Remember that Little Mark uses his thumb to point at things:

Day 12

We finally got a picture of Annie with Grandma B. She's been so busy helping us out that we haven't stopped to take pictures! I don't think there are words to express how grateful we are for Grandma B taking the time to come over and help us in so many big and little ways. We will miss you when you leave tomorrow. The kids will miss getting into your belongings, going on walks and to the tunnel park and I will miss having another set of experienced hands around!

Today did not go as smoothly as yesterday with the twins. Mark got very mad when I had to put Annie in his crib so that I could lift Elizabeth into hers and Elizabeth would knock on my door when I was in there with Annie! It was really cute. Mark also said the word hot today. He loves to help me with the laundry and when I take the clothes out of the dryer I always tell them that the clothes are hot, so today he was helping me empty the dryer (of not hot clothes) and he kept saying hot, hot, hot every time he would pull out a piece of clothing and put it in the basket!!

Day 10 + 11

Yesterday was a big day for us. I took Annie to her 10 day Dr's appointment and then afterwards we all went to the Country Village to get some fresh air and play.

The twins loved watching the ducks:

I thought Mark took another picture of Annie and I after I had moved the blanket from her head but he didn't...so this is all you get of her:

We also went to the toy store to play and buy some new books and then went to get some lemonade where they played in the play area and loved it!

Here is how Annie looks right now as I'm typing this, asleep with Daddy:

But don't let the sleeping fool you! I have learned 2 new things about our sweet Annie today.

1: She has a short and delicate sleepy window and if you keep her up past that then she will be up for hours..I think it was 4 hours today, yikes! I don't think she can sleep around the twins either.

2: The pacifier is not my friend, although it could be hers. Yesterday at the Dr's I tried giving her one because she was hungry and we were waiting and she took it and liked it. She wouldn't fall asleep while we were walking around Country Village but again the pacifier helped. Then today when she was up for so long I decided to try and give it to her again. It got her to sleep but then every time it came out she would wake up again. It was getting us nowhere!!!

While at the Dr's office we got some pretty impressive numbers from our little Annie!

She has not only gained back her birth weight already but has gained more! She was born at 8 lbs and was down to 7 lbs 6 oz. last Monday and this Monday was 8 lbs 4oz.!!!! She gained almost a pound in a week! Her height is in the 80th percentile and her head in the 90th. She's been having some breathing issues, sleep apnea and congestion. The Dr. diagnosed her with reflux and we have her on some medicine with a follow up next week. I hope it's not something more serious, we want our Annie healthy and strong! It is keeping me from getting some sleep because I worry so much about her, I hate hearing her gasping for breath, I'm a little tormented by our time with the twins and their apnea in the NICU.

Before I forget, yesterday we were skyping with Grandma T and Aunt Kate and the twins were performing and being funny and I was holding Annie. After something was particularly funny we were laughing and then Annie smiled! She was wide awake so it wasn't a sleepy, dreamy smile but a real smile...is that even possible? I don't know but I have witnesses!

Today Grandma B was here and when Little Mark woke up and saw her he went running over for a hug! Mark went back to work today for the 1st time and I was really worried that the kids would be having some major Daddy withdrawls. I don't know if it was Grandma or what but they were happy little campers all day long!!! They even made up this little game all by themselves today, I only caught 20 seconds of it but they were doing it for a few minutes and it was so cute! They are obsessed with playing peek a boo with each other or anyone or anything!

Day 8 + 9

Yesterday Mark took the kids to their favorite singer.....CASPER BABYPANTS!!! For those of you who aren't as hip as we are, he used to be the lead singer of the band The Presidents of the United States of America (I was secretly hoping he would bust out 'Peaches', but he didn't:) but now he sings kids music, he's quite popular in our neck of the woods. We listen to one of his CD"s every morning and they love it. I was sad that I couldn't go with them to their 1st concert but I was happy to stay home and have a much needed nap with Annie!

It was a little hard for Mark to take them by himself. Elizabeth is so shy though she stayed close to Mark the whole time so he really only had to chase Little Mark around, who was busy getting into everything and everyone's stuff!

This was Elizabeth's face the whole time, there was a lot for her to take in:

Little Mark did make time for some dancing:

And jumping:

And showing off his abs??

On other fun notes, Mark and Elizabeth have found a new hiding place that they think is hilarious:

Mark is trying to figure out some new ways of getting out with both kids by himself, haha, Elizabeth doesn't think it's funny though!!

And my little 9 day old baby has already lost her umbilical cord!! I can't believe it fell off today! I feel like my baby is getting so big already:(

Here is some short video of Little Mark having fun at the concert in the dance mosh pit!