Food

This post is all about food, mostly so that if we're lucky enough to have a third child, I can look back on what Carter and Olivia ate and remind myself of what I should be feeding the newest one.

At about 4.5 months, we started solid foods.  It was not a success by any stretch of the imagination.  We tried rice cereal a couple times but put on the brakes for a couple weeks when they downright refused hte food.

Our second attempt was successful.  We blew off the rice cereal and moved to the Gerber first foods....squash and sweet peas.  They loved both of these, so we quickly added sweet potatoes, green beans, and apple sauce to the list of foods.  Since about 5 months old, we've been feeding them one serving of solid foods a night and they've been eating a serving at lunch at school.

Somewhere along the way they have tried just about every puree that Gerber makes and they love them all!  Their favorites are the orange ones: squash, sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes/corn, and carrots. They also love to have yogurt in the morning (yep, we added breakfast too!) and they could munch on puffs all day long. 

They also eat any kind of bread (pancakes, biscuits) and have recently started eating small non-pureed fruits and vegetables.  We'll be feeding them the food we eat before we know it!

4th of July at the beach

This year the 4th of July fell on a Wednesday, which is kind of a drag because it doesn't match up with a long weekend.  So since we didn't go back to Texas and since Dun had to fly out this morning (sniff sniff), it was just the four of us.  We decided to go back to the beach and it was even more fun than the first time.  The babies seemed to know what to expect and were much more comfortable in the water.  There was a little girl there who hung out with us a little bit.  She really enjoyed holding Olivia, which I let her do some in the water.  She was really very big and strong for only being 5 years old.

Beach babies

These two have been to the beach a few times before, but only to "see" it.  They've taken walks on the beach (read: been carried) but have never really experienced the beach before yesterday. 

Dun and I set out to give them their first beach experience and we did not disappoint!  At first we sat them both down at the edge of the surf.  Carter seemed cool with it but Olivia fussed and fussed, so we took them into the water and bobbed around.  They then saw the merits of the beach!  They delighted in floating around in the waves.

Afterwards I was very sentimental.  They will enjoy the beach countless times in their lifetimes just like we have.  Today was just the first of many wonderful days ahead.  They will play with their cousins at the beach, make new friends there, go with boyfriends/girlfriends, and someday take their kids to the beach.  And the best part is that the beach will never change.  It's constant.  I remember my mother telling stories about swimming at the beach in Italy when she was a little girl.  Although it was a different beach, the experience was the same.  Sand, sun, waves, and fun.

The water hose

Carter is no stranger to the water hose.  He has sampled its goods before, but today he totally indulged.  He and Olivia both drank far more water than I'd prefer from the hose today.  At first they choked but they kept going back for more.  Water from the hose tastes exactly like it did when we were kids.  I kept telling Forrest that these two are getting an official "taste" of childhood.  Drinking from the hose is like that for me....it's a taste that takes me back to my childhood.

Anyways, they were baptized into their childhood by the water hose and they couldn't have been happier about it.

Dun's here!

Dun got in late last night so the twins were surprised to see her this morning.  Olivia woke up at 5:30 (yawn!) this morning and so Dun went in to get her.  She was startled because at first she didn't recognize her, but she warmed up quickly. 

Morning play time

Each morning after their bottles, they play with toys for a few minutes before they get dressed for the day and go for their morning walk.  I snapped these a few days ago and poor Olivia could not tolerate the flash and I was too knuckleheaded to turn the flash off. 

More playing pics