9 months old

Taylor still loves to sit on your lap, but only if he's tired, sick, is being entertained and has crawled all over you. In this photo, Tay Tay is getting love from Gan after a bottle.

The boys are totally into each other. What Turner is doing, Taylor is admiring. What Taylor is eating, Turner wants. What Turner is playing with, Taylor wants...even if the same toy is right beside him. They look at the other when one is crying or laughing. They have started cooing to each other. These boys LOVE each other!

Did I mention that they love each other?

Learning golf at an early age....

Turner with our beloved Georgia. Georgia is 14 and was Ben's dog. Before I met him, she evidently was a recluse who hid under the house when his friends came over. We just found out that she has liver and lung cancer. We are hoping to give her a good summer by spoiling her until she acts sick, then she'll go to doggie heaven. As you can see, she is so gentle around the boys, even licking their feet at times.

Turner in his jumper!!! He loves it. This is the new hot spot for him.

Top 10 things we want to remember about this age:

1. Turner's smile when he sees the catepillar from Baby Einstein come across the screen.

2. Taylor's laughter when I blow raspberries on his belly.

3. The heads that turn as the vacuum or hairdryer is turned on.

4. Puffs, vanilla wafers, pureed foods, finger foods, but still 5 6-oz. bottles a day!

5. Do you hear the "wonk-wonk"...yep, mommy still is at the pump!

6. Turner's rabbit smile! And his bites....

7. Taylor's hair as it blows in the wind--it is still "buzzing some" but is starting to lay to the right.

8. Turner appears to be right hand dominant and Taylor left? Who knows?

9. Beating everything into the ground and tasting everything!!!

10. Size 3 diapers, 9 month clothes, crawling, furniture walking, giggling, cooing (yes, dada is the hot word of the time! )

Here is Taylor laughing at Turner. We let one pretend to be "getting" the other. They LOVE it!!!

Anything for entertainment---Spoons are the best! Bang, bang, we're off!!!

Sharing and fighting over toys.....The wars have begun. We are trying to teach " no touch". Actually, it is working pretty well. This turtle was mine as a little girl and sure enough, it is their favorite new toy at Boo and Gan. Boo has her own set of toys. Poor thing carries them between Charlotte, Charleston and the beach, depending on which grandkids will be where. Now that is a dedicated g-ma!

Turner and sweet ole G

Visit with John 5

We were lucky to have visitors last weekend. John 4 wanted to come into town to go fishing, so lucky for us, we got to see our cousins, Savannah and John 5! Here we are eating breakfast at Saffron's. John and Turner enjoyed the buffet...hash, hashbrowns, mac n cheese. Real healthy, I know, but options for infants was limited.

The weather was blistering hot, so Gan and John decided to have a lemonade stand. And what a hit it was! John enjoyed being a salesman like his daddy, while Gan enjoyed visiting with strangers from all over the world! It was hot as all. Thanks to Boo, who pushed the twins around the block. Thanks to Carrie and I for going back and forth to the house from the battery for ice refills, more water for lemonade. Oh, let's not forget...thanks to John for letting mommy know when he had to "tinkle". Good job, buddy. Gan did a great job selling your stuff while you were gone!

John 5 with the twins!

The Dove, Slade and Stephens Clan hauling everyone and everything down 2 houses to the battery! Note: Gan has the stand, John has himself, Aunt Caroline has Savannah, Boo has the twins and I have the camera! We were quite a view!!!

The salesman taking a break before the meltdown! Funniest thing: A man tried to tip him an extra dollar. Gan insisted it was not needed (politely). John had a big time meltdown, screaming "mine" as he grabbed the money frrom the man! We all chuckled. Bad i know, but it was funny coming from our angelic John. All in all, 19 dollars was made in 45 minutes and even better, it got all of us out of the house for a bref bit.

What's New on Our Plate

Poor Taylor is still sick with another ear infection. Second dose of amoxicilin. Hope it helps because it is not like our Tay Tay to not finish his plate. The watermelon, cheese and pasta wore him out. Literally. Funny thing, our chunk of love is not crazy about solid food, but we are going to keep trying. Maybe once he feels better, he will be more interested?

Now, the endless pit here LOVES his solids foods. EVERYTHING that is put in front of him is gone and usually, he goes for his brother's stuff too. Here is Turner eating the buffet at Saffron's.

Turner and Taylor enjoying a Vanilla Wafer from Aunt Caroline's goody stash.

Taylor loves his cheese puffs though!

Turner too....

This angelic photo of Turner was too cute to not post! Snacktime at Boo and Gan's!!!

Teething Biscuits--what a mess, but boy do they love them!!!

Nanny Dove's Visit (8 1/2 mos.)

Nanny, Amma and Martha made another visit to see the boys. How we look forward to those times! Here is Nanny trying to keep up with Turner as he squirms around. Dang, nanny looks good. She'll be 91 in August and sharper than me. Did I mention she still lives in the house she was born in, drives a car, pays her bills and has a bedroom on the second floor? My middle name was Timms, which was her maiden name. SHE IS MY HERO...hope I get her genes!!!!

Poor Martha trying to keep Turner entertained. Cheerios do the trick every time!

Taylor showing off his skills in front of his aunts and great g-ma!

Mommy, Amma and Taylor, Nanny and Turner and Martha...what a fun time!!!

Congratulations Alex!!!

Here are the boys as we attempt to peacefully get them dressed for a dear friend's high school graduation. Getting dressed used to be so easy, now it is World War III! Sometimes Ben and I have to together endure the task together! One has to do the changing and the other has to do the entertaining!!! Here are the cute naked boys waiting for the dreaded "outfits".

Two boys dressed....now Mommy has a minute to get dressed and put on makeup while daddy shower. Speed shower, daddy! They're destroying the changing pad!!!

Taylor and Trish.... Trish works with me at Roper and has been a dear friend over the years. Her office used to be across the hall from mine, so you can imagine the laughter, joys and tears that we have shared. Her granddaughter, Alex, has been a staple at our lunches! We are so proud of her accomplishments and the places she will be doing as a nurse!!! Thanks Alex and Trish for your years of friendship!!! (And for inviting us to your cool graduation party, Alex!! Sorry we missed a photo opportunity with you for the BLOG.)

Judy and Turner...Trish and Judy work together. Judy and I have buds for as long as I can remember. Judy likes to talk as much as me, so we have lots of gregarious times!!! In the background, you can see her son, William. Man, I am old when these "kids" that I remember are now graduating and working!! Love you, Judy!!!

Let the good food begin....

The teacher's at school thought the boys were ready for some real food. Mrs. Vivian saw Taylor checking her out as she ate her sandwich, so she gave him some of her bread. He evidently LOVED it! Here Is taylor's first "home cooked" textured food...macaroni noodles!!! Since he has been sick, there has been a setback in his interst to eat or drink except yogurt melts, puffs and cheerios!!!

Now Turner is a completely different infant! This boy loves to eat--he is still the smaller of the two and frankly, we have no idea where he is putting the grub! He has eaten, or shall I say CHOWED on mac n cheese, ground chicken and pork, shredded cheese, mashed potatoes, french fries, vanilla wafers, bits of hamburger, steamed carrots and squash and bread!!

PS- He was saving the macaroni on hsi forhead for his "after nap" snack. LOL!

Naptime

Weekend naptime is not going as easy as you would think. I used to think, "boys rub their eyes and yawn, they must be tired, right?" Wrong--they are faking us out. The other day during their "supposed" naptime, I placed my hand inside the room (very quietly) to snap the photo and this is what I saw.

Then they heard my giggle...naptime over!!!

Attention all!

Bad news--our home computer has crashed for the 100th time, so no BLOG postings should be expected until July. (Quick posting for notification from work only.) We have ordered a DELL or at least Ben thinks that what is coming our way. You know the sales people are in India and there is a language barrier, so we are crossing our fingers for safe arrival of our new baby "DELL".

I know...I miss BLOGGING and the boys are doing so many fun things....furniture walking, fighting over toys, enjoying real foods (Yogurt, macaroni,vanilla waffers, sliced zucchini and chicken sticks are their faves!), breaking out of the cave and chasing each other!! Mommy survived last week's sickness--Turner had pneumonia, daddy had the flu and Taylor was teething. It was a long few days until Boo and Gan came to my rescue!!!

Miss you all. Prayers for the boys are requested so they will be 100% better soon!!

Happy birthday daddy!

In celebration of Ben's birthday, we met at our favorite pizza joint for some dinner, dessert, laughter and fun!! The boy's enjoyed seeing their future playmate, Noelle, too. Thanks to everybody for making daddy's birthday so special. I hated i was a ball of stress from the school's mistake with Taylor's bottle. (Long story--the nipple on his am bottle was clogged and they missed it. They thought he wasn't hungry, so he had not eaten all day. No one thought to see if milk was actually coming out of it. Poor guy was hysterical when mommy showed up to pick the boys up for the party. Wish they would have called me--after all, if Taylor isn't taking his milk, there is a problem! Thankfully, I tried a new bottle and surprise, he guzzled it down!!)
" TOUCHDOWN"There was a red and black theme for daddy's number one team. The party hats were "eaten" and destroyed by the boys before a picture could be taken!
Good thing mommy brought party favors for the boys--they were so well behaved!!!
Baby Noelle and Aunt Sabrina
Taylor playing with Aunts Nikki and Dawn (Noelle's mom)
Handsome Man Turner.....giving us that serious look!! (As Aunt Nikki says, " he is getting ready to start his meeting".)
What can we say, the party wore them out!!! Maybe it was the drop in their blood sugar from that yummy birthday cake?

Better late than never....

Here are the boys' 8 month photos. Our computer was down again, so I could not download any photos to the BLOG. PS- We are looking to get a new computer. Any recommendations? We need reliable and good tech support.
Turner: Our Busy Bee...8 months
There was a blow out at school, hence the different outfits...can't recall who had it? This is the latest obsession. If one of the boys have something, the other one wants it. At first, Turner would mainly take from Taylor (as seen above), but now Taylor is starting to fight back. The plot thickens....
Favorite things for 8months: anything that will fit in their mouth, balls, lights, music and momma's singing. The dog might run when I hit a high note, but Turner sways to the beat.
First teething biscuit experience...we can all guess how this story will end!
Mommy searched high and low for teething biscuits. I finally found some at Whole foods for some crazy price like 1. 50 a biscuit. They are soy and dairy free, made from all organic ingredients, vanilla flavored, blah-blah! I positioned the boys in their high chairs, blocked off the area from the drooling hounds and hoped for 5 minutes to start on washing the bottles.

Gnaw, gnaw, suck, suck, drool, drool. Everyone is happy. I enter the area to turn on Baby Einstein and forget to block the dogs out. Gnaw, gnaw...Turner waves his biscuit into the air to the Bach music thinking "nanna nanna boo-boo" as Guinness positions himself for a dropping. Drop, gobble-gobble. One biscuit gone. Turner cries. Georgia hears the crunch and enters the area, just as Taylor is leaning over with his hand low to say hello. Gobble-gobble. Second biscuit gone. Taylor cries. TIME UP for mommy!!! Back to Cheerios, Puffs, Yogurt Melts and Doggie Backyard time it is.....
Before the biscuit loss...Turner enjoys his snack.
Taylor tries to eat it as if it were a hamburger. No such luck!!!
Needless to say, the biscuits made a mess, so it was bath-time!!
The boys have graduated to bath time with mommy and daddy and LOVE it!!!
Taylor reaches for his rubber duckie!
"Let me out of here!!!"
All dressed and ready for bed, but who is not tired? Not mommya nd daddy, I assure you!!!
Night-night!
Sweet dreams!!!