Fun at the Farm

Besides being sick, the girls have had a great time playing and exploring new things at G-Ma and Papa's house. 

First, we read about all the things on a farm.

Then, we go outside and experience them first hand. We helped Uncle Jim check the trees for new nuts. 

We helped Papa mow the grass. 

We rode a horse. 

But our favorite farm activity has to be swinging. We loved that sensation of being weightless and just squealed to be pushed higher and higher. 

Canadian??

Apparently our Nana was raised in Canada and is very proud of her Canadian heritage. She decided to sneak in while our daddy is in Pakistan to dress us up in Canadian attire. Lia wasn't into the photo shoot at first, but eventually she started waving her flag to make Nana happy. 

Beach Babies

We got to spend a long weekend at the beach. We were both teething, so we were not feeling our best, but still got a glimpse of many fun memories in the years to come. The weather was amazing for the first two days, so we took advantage and went for a walk on the beach.

Ready for beach fun!

 

G-ma and Nana pushed us down to the beach.

First time sitting in the sand!

Sand is for eating, right?

Let's bury our feet!

Lia could have played for hours. Zadie prefered pouting on the sidelines.

Lia wanted to go for a swim.

Post-walk. Lia clearly enjoyed herself on the beach, whereas Zadie hated it.

Cousins

We had a great time with our cousins while we all stayed at G-Ma and Papa's house. Our cousins liked babysitting us.

Audrey put us both to sleep one morning just by patting us on the head.

We watched Lindsey running the tree rows in Papa's orchard.

We had fun playing in G-ma's fancy tub.

Plane Ride to Oregon

Our plane ride at 8 months was much more trying than the plane ride at 3 months. It did not help that we were re-routed right off the bat. We went from Dallas to San Antonio (1 hour), then immediately switched planes and went from San Antonio to Phoenix (2 hours). We had about a 2-hour lay-over in Phoenix before boarding the plane for Phoenix to Portland (2.5 hours). We finally got into Portland at 1 am Pacific Time (3 am in Texas) so it was roughly 8 and a half hours of travel. We drove to Salem and didn't get to bed until 4 am. This made for a very long day. The girls did great, but slept for most of the plane rides, so they were ready to get up at 7 am--making for a very short sleep for Mom and Dad.

Waiting to leave Dallas.

Boarding our first flight.

Lia's a trooper.

Zadie is not into the Moby wrap.

Waking up for landing. A bit groggy.

Summer Swimmin'

The girls absolutely love swimming in the pool as well as bath time each night. They may have been a bit cautious and conservative with smiles their first couple times in the pool, but they have relaxed and get a kick out of splashing and watching each other in the water. 

Lia is much more confident in floating on her back whereas Zadie sticks her feet up in the air for a diaper change. 

Here we are! Ready to swim!

 

Just working on our tans.

 

Welcome to MY pool.

 

I LOVE to swim!

 



We swim in our bath every day--best part of the day!



Zadie's newest thing. 

 

This feels good on my teeth!

8 Months

We're about a week late on our 8-month post and pictures. It seemed that we just didn't have a good night to get the girls changed into their white onesies to pose for a picture. I had the best of intentions to take their pictures yesterday, but Lia pooped all over her white onesie, and I attempted to feed Zadie applesauce without a bib while she was in her white onesie--so, no pictures yesterday. Today, I found myself waiting in between naps and feedings to get the girls in the perfect mood for pictures and for a swim. We squeezed the swim in after Zadie woke up and before Lia fell apart. Then, after Lia woke up from her post-swim nap, we decided to try for the monthly ritual. Both girls were in their clean onesies, we had a purple ribbon tied around their heads, and even moved the rocking chair to make sure the light was decent for the pictures.

Zadie cooperated for the most part. She always smiles with her tongue hanging out.

And gives some very funny expressions.

But then we added Lia to the mix, and she just clammed up, staring out the window...

...or looking at us like we were complete strangers to her.

We clearly pulled out all the stops, and were being quite funny--as Zadie reacted accordingly.

Zadie even looked at her and inquired as to what her issue was.

To which Lia responded by returning the favors to Zadie...

So, we finally gave up and settled on this picture. Sorry, future Lia. We tried.

When it was time for just Lia's picture, she gave us a bit more expression, but not her normal ginormous smiles.

 I was hoping for a shot of her two bottom teeth, but got raspberries instead.

So, here's the closest thing to a decent 8-month picture for Lia.

In other news...Lia is approximately 21 pounds and Zadie is about 20 pounds now. They both love to eat--so long as it is completely pureed food. We tried just mashed sweet potatoes, and that did not go well. Zadie rolls all over and can scoot forward if she reaches hard enough. Lia would prefer not roll, but will do it to get a toy just out of reach--or to snatch something from her sister. They both like to sit up and reach forward as far as they can until they topple forward. They are happy most of the time and sleep for 10 hours each night with very few off nights. Lia has two teeth on the bottom with two ready to pop through on the top. Zadie still has none. Lia consistently says DaDa, and sometimes says MaMa...but we aren't sure if it has any meaning behind it just yet. Tonight, we were pretty sure she signed "more" when we were feeding her...but, it could have been a total fluke. Zadie loves to play peek-a-boo, and will cover her face until you say "Where's Zadie?" at which point she peeks through and smiles at you. aIt is fun to watch how much they learn and grow each week. In fact, it's starting to get scary because we can actually see that we influence them now.