Crazy kids

All three of us "in the pen"

Here's my flexible little baby girl. She sleeps like this all the time! Alec does this too...every once in a while. I don't think she's going to have any problems with the "sit and reach" test in P.E., that is, if they still have P.E.??

Adele is a Godsend

This is a video of a trick we have up our sleeve when the kids get fussy. They have been listening to Adele for a long time, and they love her! Good thing we have this and their favorite Toyota commercial (Save by zero) DVRed!

Playtime with Mommy

Here is a video from last Sunday night. I was playing with the kids in the play yard. This was before the dreaded stomach flu struck! Oh, now Daddy has it, by the way. I'm praying that the babies don't get it!!!

Ice Storm 2009

You can kinda see the icecicles hanging off of the roof, and all of the ice on the foliage.

Backyard...icecicles up top and a tree from a neighbor's yard bending over our fence.

Front flower bed

Our neighbors across the street. Those bushes used to cover the windows and chimney. They hang low with the weight of the ice. The trees in the background can lose branches at any moment.

Down our street to the left

Our next door neighbors' tree before...

and after!

The contents of our freezer on the back porch. With the power out, we didn't want our fridge and freezer food to go bad. The food from the fridge went into the garage.

I don't know how many of you follow weather around the nation, but over the last few days, we here in NW Arkansas have been hit with a pretty awful ice storm! This week started out very eventfully, before the ice even came. I got hit with the stomach flu on Sunday night, and was completely out of commission for nearly all of Monday. Luckily, Aaron did not get sick, and even though Alec threw up once, I'm not calling it what I had, and both babies did well throughout the day. Daddy was able to stay home and take care of them, while I was relegated to my bed and the bathroom for 24 hours.

In the wake of that misery finally passing over us, in came the ice. It started Monday night, and by Tuesday morning pretty much everything was glazed over with a pretty good covering of it. We lost power at 8am and didn't get it back until 3pm. We have a gas fireplace and water heater, thank the good Lord...so we were able to have warm water for bottles, showers, and also heat for the house because of the fireplace. I wasn't convinced that the power would stay on because we were still getting pelted with freezing rain, sleet and snow up through 6am this morning. Again, God was gracious, because we were able to get dinner made, the twins bathed and in bed, before the power went out again at around 8:30pm last night.

For those of you who don't live in the Arctic Tundra (I realize that this is a very hyperbolic statement, but for two native Texans...this is about all we can stand), the power goes out because all of the ice that covers trees and power lines causes the trees to snap and fall into the power lines or the lines themselves to go down. We were able to stay in the house overnight last night, even without power, because the fireplace was keeping the living room and into the nursery around 70 degrees. Aaron and I camped out in the living room, and the babies were happy in their cribs as usual.

Today we ventured out around 12:30 this afternoon to go to our friend Melissa's house because she has power. Aaron wanted to try to log in to work from there and we wanted to warm up some food...and just to get out into the land of the living. The drive was crazy. The roads were driveable, but it was just amazing seeing all of the trees and branches down, power lines down, and ice ice ice...as far as the eye could see. We came back home around 4pm to a house with power. Yay! I'm posting some pictures of all of the ice...so check them out and be grateful if you are not dealing with this kind of winter storm!!!

Nine Month Checkup

Well, we just got back from taking the babies for their nine month well visit with the pediatrician. Everything went great! Their stats are as follows:

Alec
Weight 17lbs. 14oz. 15%
Length 29 inches 75%
Head Circumference 17 3/4 inches 40%

Emma
Weight 16lbs. 2oz. 5%
Length 27 1/4 inches 30%
Head Circumference 17 1/4 inches 30%

As you can see, they are long and skinny. They are right on target for all of their developmental milestones. We are now allowed to feed them anything soft or small that they will eat...that's not too heavily seasoned...except for honey, eggs, citrus and peanut butter. They have been working on feeding themselves with fruit puffs and small pieces of noodles and veggies. They already use sippy cups for diluted juice and water, but we will start giving them formula in their sippy cups soon, in the hope that they will be completely off of bottles by their first birthday. This would be fantastic...as I am so over bottle duty!

Another very interesting piece of info is that when we were at the doctor's office, there were two other sets of twins there! There was a 15 month old boy/girl set in the lobby, and another infant set that came out right as we were going in. They looked to be about 6 months old. There is something in the water in NW Arkansas, I guess. Just kidding! I pretty much gave the Lord a laundry list of what I wanted when I prayed for my children. I requested twins...a boy and a girl. And my cup runneth over! We are so incredibly blessed to have Alec and Emma, and I give Him glory and gratitude for every good report and healthy day!

Messy Mister, Messy Missy!

So, over the last week, we've been experimenting with some bigger kid food. It's time for the babies to start chewing small pieces of well-cooked food. We started with the 3rd foods in the jar, but for some reason, that really weirded them both out. They would choke on the small pieces, because they were unsure what to do with them. But they chew toys and teethe on stuff constantly. So, I decided to go about this backwards. I started to give them small pieces of macaroni (dad only makes it every other day, so we have quite a lot of it around), just placed on their high chair trays. They immediately went to picking it up and putting it in their mouths. They chewed and swallowed. All good! We also tried pieces of egg noodles from the beef tips with noodles that I made on Sunday, as well as some cooked carrot, potato and chicken pieces that were from my chicken and dumplings. All of these foods went over very well. When they picked the items up and decided to eat them on their own, there was no choking. So, after having them practice chewing for a few days...we went back to the jarred food with little pieces. They did MUCH better. Once they realized that there was something chewable, they knew to chew. I also gave them their first teething biscuits the other day, and they LOVED those. Now, all of this food experimentation is VERY messy. So messy, in fact, that their dad can hardly stand it. He has issues with messiness. I don't like that they are covered from top to bottom in food, either, but I know that it is part of the developmental process, and therefore, must be endured. Plus, there's always the bathtub. So, here are some pictures of Alec and Emma covered in food. Alec is sporting his "scrunchie" face. He wrinkles up his nose and purses his lips and huffs and puffs, usually to make a point. It's pretty funny. You can imagine how fun it was for me to clean all of this up... them, and the highchair.

Happy Belated Birthday, Grandpa Jeff!

We just want to wish Grandpa Jeff (Aaron's dad) a very happy birthday! He celebrated another year (we won't disclose which one) on January 11th. We missed celebrating with him, but were happy to spend almost two weeks with him over the holidays. We want you to know that we love you, and we hope that you had a great day, G'pa Jeff!

Claudia and Christy

This post is a shout-out to some of our favorite people, Claudia (on the left) and Christy (on the right)! They are friends from church, and they are currently missionaries to El Salvador through In His Name Ministries. Claudia is originally from Peru, and Christy is an Okie, like me. Boomer! (Even though after the bowl game performance, I am still in mourning.) Their activities in San Salvador/ Jiquilisco include literacy programs, children's ministries, food distribution, and English classes, as well as other evangelistic endeavors. These ladies are people that Aaron and I strive to emulate. Their strong faith, and their determination to follow the Lord's call, wherever it may lead, serves as an example to our entire church body. We had the opportunity to serve on a short -term missions team with them in the summer of 2006, when we went to Costa Rica for Christ for the Cities International. We know that they are accomplishing so much for the Lord in El Salvador, and we will continue to support their service there. We have been happy to spend some time with them, while they've been home on break. It's been great having them home, and though they are headed back to El Salvador on the 16th, we look forward to seeing them again when they are back in Arkansas in March. We love you, Christy and Claudia!

Mohawk!...and a cute baby boy too!

Here are the promised mohawk pics of Emma in the tub...and some of Alec too. His hair doesn't quite make the mohawk yet.

A Walk Around Downtown Goliad

Alec, Daddy and G'ma Wanda at the Hanging Tree. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Between 1846 and 1870, this live oak tree served as the site of court sessions. Death sentences pronounced by the court were carried out immediately. During the 1857 Cart War, during which Texan freighters perpetrated a series of vicious attacks against Mexican cart drivers along the Indianola-Goliad-San Antonio Road, this tree was also the site of a number of unauthorized lynchings, before the Texas Rangers brought the conflict under control.

Emma, Momma and G'ma Wanda at the Hanging Tree

The four of us at the Hanging Tree




The four of us outside the courthouse

The old railroad bridge

G'ma Wanda, Emma and Momma on the walking trail




The Goliad Courthouse

On the square

A little bit of Goliad history:

Goliad is one of the oldest municipalities in Texas. In 1749, the Spanish government transferred Mission Espiritu Santo and its royal protector, Presidio La Bahia, to this site. A small villa grew up around the walls of the presidio, and was called La Bahia. This area was occupied by the Spanish until 1821, when Mexico won its independence from Spain. The name of the town was officially changed to Goliad in 1829. The first great cattle ranch in Texas is said to have its beginnings at Mission Espiritu Santo. The first offensive action of the Texas Revolution occurred here on October 9, 1835, when local colonists captured the fort and the town. The first Declaration of Texas Independence was signed on the altar of the presidio chapel on December 20, 1835. During the 1836 Texas campaign, Colonel James Walker Fannin's force surrendered in defeat at the Battle of Coleto Creek. The Texian soldiers were imprisoned in the presidio for a week. On Palm Sunday, March 27, Col. Fannin and his 341 men were marched outside the walls and shot, making Goliad the site of the largest single loss of life in the cause of Texas independence. The Goliad Massacre, which accounted for twice the loss of life as that at the Alamo, was, in part, the inspiration of Gail Borden's headline, "Remember Goliad! Remember the Alamo!", which become the rousing battle cry of the victorious Texians at the Battle of San Jacinto. (information courtesy of Goliad, TX Chamber of Commerce http://www.goliadcc.org/history.htm)

After Christmas

Alec with Uncle Andrew

Emma with Grandpa Jeff

Alec with GG'ma Davis...gosh he looks big!

Alec wearing Daddy's old Dallas Cowboys hat and watching the game with Daddy and Grandpa.

Emma gets a turn to wear the hat.

Emma with one of my best friends from high school, Jenny Carlson.

Everybody in the pen!

G'ma Wanda in the octagon

Daddy reading their favorite nursery rhymes.



Uncles Alex and Andrew

Uncle Andrew

We thought pretty hard about which baby gear to take along on our nearly two week trip away from home. One thing that I was pretty sure that we were going to need was the octagon. It's a portable gated play yard (see previous posts) that the kids can play in and roam around, while staying safe and not being allowed to get into things they shouldn't. It took up a good amount of room in the back of the Pilot, but it was a really good thing that we took it along. It was invaluable as a place for them to play, especially during mealtimes...so that the rest of us could eat and/or take a break from holding babies. We set up the octagon (or actually, hexagon, as cousin Hailey brought to our attention, since there are only six panels set up...we do have two more that we haven't attached yet) in GG'ma Davis' dining room, and they spent a good amount of time in there. But they weren't the only ones, as you can clearly see above. Pretty much everyone took a turn in the play yard with Alec and Emma. We don't have pictures of everyone in there, but here are a few.

Christmas Afternoon with the Ybarbos

Four Generations: Great Grandma Delphina and Great Grandpa Lee Ybarbo

G'ma Wanda Ybarbo Davis

Daddy

Emma and Alec

Emma y Alec con los bisabuelos.

Alec with G'ma Wanda

Emma with G'ma Wanda


Momma getting some yum-yums from my Emma-Doodle.

Emma with Uncle Alex. I think there's quite a resemblance there!

Alec with Great Aunt Linda

A sleepy Alec with his new Teddy bear! Thanks, Aunt Linda!

Emma with her new Teddy bear that smells like gingerbread...yum! She's sitting on her Great Aunt JoAnn's lap and Great Aunt Linda is next to them with Great Grandma Delphina in the background.

Alec with Great Great Aunt Lucy.

Emma with Great Aunt Becky.

Alec with Great Great Aunt Eva.