9 months already?!?

It's so hard to believe - my little baby girls are going to be 9 months old tomorrow! And it's almost been a year since I went on bed rest. I've been thinking a lot lately about August 15th, 2008. It was the day after we came home from a great Reinke family vacation in Lancaster, PA, and I went to a Dr's appt, thinking it would be a routine check-up and 2 or 3 hours later, I'm in the hospital being monitored for pre-term labor. That set off a crazy chain of events and our life hasn't been the same since. Really, though, just where has the time gone??? The last 12 weeks of the pregnacy seemed to drag on and on (see my posts from September and October if you want to re-live those days :D), but now that Amelia and Penelope are here, I can't keep up... They are growing so darn fast, I'm afraid to even blink. Everyone warned us how quickly the months go by and they are SO right. And now it feels like it has been forever and a day since I updated the blog, I don't even know where to begin. I'm thinking I should just do a quick re-cap of the past 6 weeks, post a few of my favorite pictures and then start fresh. I want to really try to post once every week or two (don't laugh at me! we all have goals right?).

Over the 4th of July, we went on our first big road trip to Holland, Michigan. The girls did great in the car (only getting fussy the last hour of trip) and while it took us 7 hours to drive up, we managed to get home in just 6. Hooray! I'm not too sure we'll do a drive like that very soon, but at least now we know it's possible (with lots of planning and packing!). I think I'd like to wait until the girls are weaned a little bit more as pumping in the car (while going 70mph down the highway) wasn't the greatest... While in Holland, we visited Grandma and Grandpa Reinke, Aunt Brooke and Uncle Todd and cousins Kendall and Braden. We took the girls to the Farmers Market, a neighborhood picnic and on a couple walks in Waukazoo Woods. Paul and I even got a little time to ourselves to wander around downtown Holland. I really love West Michigan in the summer. There's just something about being so close to the lake...I think it's in the air. :) Anyway, we had a fun weekend with the family. I wish we lived closer so we could visit more often (especially now that B and T have a new boat - can't wait to see it!).

The following weekend, the weather finally warmed up some and we had our first "swim" in the kiddie pool. That was fun, but a little hard for me since I was home alone that day. Penelope spent the majority of the time trying to lean over and climb out the side. Thankfully, Amelia just relaxed and chewed on the water toys and I tried my best to take a few pictures and some video. I don't know what I would have done had they both tried to crawl out. I don't think I thought that idea out very well. 2 wet and slippery babies probably requires 2 pairs of adults hands. :) We went swimming again yesterday (and yes, Paul was home this time) and they seemed to enjoy it more. Amelia really got into splashing with her hands and kicking her legs around. Penelope splashed a little and played with the toys, but after about 10 minutes, started to make her exit. Oh well, maybe swimming just isn't her favorite thing (at least for this summer)...

Last weekend, we took another road trip to Indiana to attend my cousin Megan's wedding reception and visit more family. It was really neat to see all my Hasler cousins and their families. The number of kids everyone has really grew over this past year. Paul and I went from 0 to 2 kids and my cousins Melissa, 3 to 4, and Brad, 1 to 4. There were babies and toddlers and tweens all over the place. It was quite a family reunion!

This weekend we stayed in town but still kept busy - at least on Saturday. We decided to head to Marysville to check out the Union County Fair and some farm animals. I must admit - Amelia and Penelope both seemed quite unimpressed with the whole thing. :D Well, except for the sheep barn - when a curious little guy stuck his head out close to the stroller and let out a loud "baaa". At first I thought Amelia was laughing, but then quickly realized those were scared cries and then that set off Penelope... So there we are in the sheep and goat barn with 2 crying babies. Gotta love it! :) I was hesitant to show them too many more animals fearing what might happen when a cow "moos" or a pig "oinks" but they were fine the rest of the time. They both even took a little catnap in their awesome new City Mini stroller. Maybe next year will be a better age to show them the farm animals at the county fair. Although next weekend we might try to go the Ohio State Fair, but I have low expectations - and know to stay away from the sheep! :D

So while June seemed to be Penelope's month to get moving, July has been all about Amelia. By the first of July, Penelope was getting really good (and fast) at crawling and Amelia has spent the month catching up. Early in July, she started to "creep" on her belly and a couple weeks after that, she figured out how to get herself from laying on her belly to sitting up and also how to pull herself. After practicing in the crib for a few days, she had it down pat and has been pulling up on anything she can get her hands on. I must say she's pretty brave too - she's quick to let go with both hands if something - or someone - distracts her. There have been a few falls and bumps to the head, but I think that comes with the territory. Lately, her crawling has been a mix between an army crawl on her belly and on her hands and knees. I think when she gets tired, she prefers to creep on belly. She's good at that though and I have a hard time when her and Penelope go off in separate directions! Most of the time though, they go after the same things - TV remote, bumbo seat (they really like climbing on it and pulling up on it), the couch. a small trunk with all the Wii accessories and of course, the TV and entertainment center. I keep saying we need to get on the ball with baby-proofing because there will come time when the extra large pack-n-play can no longer hold both of them (happily anyway!) and instead we need to use an entire room to contain and entertain without fear of them getting hurt.

So I think that's about it...at least as far as activities and milestones go... I will work on finding some pictures to post later this evening.