This weather stinks!!! We are housebound:(

We are feeling a bit housebound with the weather we are having lately. Walks have been nearly impossible but now it is so cold, we don't even like to take the babies anywhere in the car. Our whole house just feels cold! BLAHHH!! I am already ready for spring and warmer weather! So here are a few photos from around the house

Both the kids love to be read to and enjoy books. But Elaina REALLY loves books! Like, if all she had were books to play with she would be happy. She crawls over to them and looks at the pictures, will go through the baskets until she finds one she likes, and will point at the things she sees while turning the pages. We are so excited that she likes it that much and are really encouraging it as much as we can. We let her hold books in the car, in the bath, and read to her (and Skylar) as much as possible. We also think books are one thing you can't have too much of and we buy them as often as we can so they have lots to choose from. As you can tell from these pictures she gets comfy when reading!

This one cracked us up. We have their old bathtub in the upstairs playroom and put their books in it so they are easy to get to and stay somewhat neat. Well, we noticed that Elaina had decided to just climb in and read. She was in there for awhile and when she couldn't find the one she wanted, she looked for it outside the tub and then settled back into it.


Skylar playing with his new Christmas toy from Grandpa and Mimi. He loves it but as you can see from all the pieces he has thrown on the ground, he gets a little rough with it. He is ALL BOY!


With weather like this, we tend to stay in our pajamas most of the morning. Doesn't she look cozy?!? I want an adult version of those pajamas!


Someone Jon knows through work, made this dual rocking chair for the kids as a gift. It is beautiful and was such a nice present!! Skylar didn't like it at first, but now he climbs onto it and plays with the bears faces and laughs. This is classic Skylar and Elaina though and it makes me laugh looking at the picture!


Want more proof he is all boy? Check out the hole in the bottom of his mouth! He had cracked a tooth a few weeks before and finally had to have it taken out. It looks much better now. Poor guy has not had it easy with teething. To make it worse, he got relief for one day (the day this was taken) and then the next day was super crabby because the tooth on the other side came in. He now has a gap on the top and the bottom!


Ok, so the lighting is not good but look at the cute toy they gave him and put in his overall pocket! It just made me smile and we saved it along with his tooth which they put in a box for him.


Finally onto the big tub...they hated being in it together. Well, actually it was more Elaina who wanted nothing to do with Skylar in the tub. He didn't mind too much! We got pictures and got them out. Now they love to play in there and Elaina especially loves to lay down and put her face in the water. No fear at all of the water, which is both reassuring and scary. We had planned to do swim lessons last summer but with moving it didn't happen. Soon, very soon, so our little fish are ready for the pool in the summer (and the beach when we go on vacation this spring!)

Less teeth than Skylar started with yesterday!

So yesterday Skylar had 6 teeth and now it is more like 5 1/3. Somehow he must have cracked his tooth. Yep, that's right! This morning both Jon and I noticed separately that one on the bottom looked slightly jagged. Tonight we had a very challenging dinner with him starting to cry very hard. I thought his teeth were bothering him (he has been really teething bad the past week or so). So I took him out and held him while I finished feeding Elaina. He was a mess so I thought it must be really bad and finally got him calmed down with some Orajel and a bath. Well, Jon was playing with him and noticed half his tooth was gone! We are calling the pediatrician tomorrow but we think he must have cracked it on something and then the teething bisquit at dinner might have just caused it to separate. The first time mom in me was freaking out. How could I not know it was cracked?!? I think there is a fine line between keeping them safe when they play (especially when they are learning to crawl, stand, walk) and being overprotective and being a nervous nelly. I want my kids to be independent and confident to try new things so I try to give them some space and recognize that falls and bumps and bruises goes with learning to do some of these things. But seriously....already cracking a tooth?!? I saw the rest of his childhood flash before my eyes and it included trips to the ER for broken bones, etc!!!

New Pictures as they turn 9 months

I have been really bad about posting updates and pictures the past few weeks...sorry! The twins turn 9 months on Friday, which is hard for me to believe. Elaina now has two teeth on the bottom and seems to be working on the top ones. She gets up on all fours and rocks but has yet to take off, thank goodness! She rolls all over the place though so she is still very mobile. Skylar is still working on those teeth. Every morning we anxiously peer into his mouth but only get a huge toothless grin from our happy little boy. He seriously is the happiest baby ever and laughs at everything but especially loves our animals. Anyway, here are a few pictures...



Skylar just hanging out

He loves the animals and was laughing as Cinco licked his fingers.

I am such a big boy and can finally sit up and drive!

Elaina on all fours just ready to go. Her hair is so crazy because she just rolls and rolls on the ground. It is a hopeless cause to keep it out of her face!

If you look close, you can see her bottom two teeth

"Soon I will be on the move and I will get you Marley!!!"

Finally a tooth!!

So after many, many painful days of teething (for all involved!), there is finally a new tooth in the Pedersen house. And it is Elaina! We thought for sure Skylar would finally do something first since his gums were so swollen and we could even see the top tooth - it just hadn't broken through yet. He was showing all signs of getting one first. But no Sissy had to one up him again!! Jon was feeding them their lunch yesterday and started yelling for me. Sure enough there it was in her mouth on the bottom row! Poor little girl was up at 3:30 screaming and now we know that was probably why. So stay tuned for hopefully a tooth from Skylar soon! Oh and it is hilarious to watch Elaina play with tooth by constantly running her tongue over it!

Tooth tomorrow?

I think I have been talking about the babies teething since they were four months old. Seriously, it might have been that long. But now it is in full force!! Major drooling, lots of chewing on anything (and hard chewing I might add...watch your fingers!), plus crabby babies with irregular sleep patterns. Well, according to Jon tomorrow Skylar will pop out his first tooth. He made the prediction on Sunday after looking very closely at his gums. Jon does have a biology degree so he must know something about it, right? We will see in just a few hours if he is correct (and if Skylar wakes with a tooth I will have to laugh!). To be continued....