Many Thanks in November

We have so many things to give thanks for--and so many pictures to go with it!

Starting with our sweet Birthday Boy this month...

Mario having boppy time

Earlier this month we donated our preemie clothes to the NICU. We got to see several of our favorite nurses when we went in to drop everything off too. It was a nice feeling to be healthy and just visit the NICU now

Camryn loves her Sleep Giraffe almost as much as her and her brother love their Sleep Sheep. Cam and Giraffe were having quite a conversation lately.

...as well as some good snuggle time

Also this month we had our Newborn Pictures done. They turned out so cute! We can't wait to decorate their room with all their beautiful pictures soon.

I hope I don't jinx anything by typing this--but they are usually good about taking naps back in their bed (which is still their pack n play in the study off of our bedroom) afternoons into the evening. After 4 hours I was ready for them to wake up so I used the flash on the camera and caught this serious slumber taking place. It didn't wake them in the least by the way.

Dad let Cole sit in the sacred KU Chair for the first KU game this season.

Matt teaching Cole the ways of the iPad

And now onto Thanksgiving...

We loved having all kinds of family in town for Thanksgiving this year. It was the first time for all them to meet the babies. We had so much fun.

Here's Maya with Camryn. The two girl cousins definitely got in some good bonding time.

Maya and Cooper

Fisher loving on his boy cousin

Cole snoozing away on Grammy

Cole and Maggie made quite a love connection too

It's too bad Maya and Cooper don't really take to Matt...yeah right!

It's great to hang out on Matt Thanksgiving morning.

The weather started out great on Thanksgiving day here--but then turned really cold. (Cold for us down here, I mean!)

Back inside my Mom's house on Thanksgiving

Showing off their "Baby's 1st Thanksgiving" bibs

Some good photo ops with their Grammy

Grammy definitely had the magic touch with Cam

Matt made his always yummy Bourbon Corn. It was all gone. So gone that it looked like someone literally licked the serving bowl it was in. I think all of us had a third helping of it.

Maggie will fondly think of Jennifer whenever there is wine around. Just like she will think of my Mom and other Ericksons whenever there is a Moo Moo around.

The boys all posing in their dinosaur shirts

We got to see Nora and Tom while they were in town!

Grammy got her Christmas present early--a Nook! She loves it so much she continued to read it in quite a position while it fully charged later that day.

Cole and Camryn very much loved cuddling with their Grammy all weekend.

We strongly felt the love and thanks that go with the Holidays this year. Can't wait to celebrate more next month!

Halloween and Hangin Out

Finally uploaded some pictures from our real camera, so we've got lots to share...

Camryn boppy time

Cole boppy time

Snoozing away the afternoon. But notice that they both have a foot sticking out. No matter how they start out, they always end up with one or both feet out of their blankets when they sleep. They like to have their piggies free!...

See?...A close up from a different day--both have a free piggy out! And those who know me, know I am NOT a foot person. Babies are the exception.

Cole is totally out. Having trouble keeping his tongue in.

Playing in their ocean. They frequently cross arms when they're laying together too

More playtime

Caught a quick grin

Finally trying Cole out in the Baby Bjorn now that he weighs enough for it

We decided to take pictures with some pumpkins in honor of the season. Here's Cam...

And here's Cole with the pumpkins...

But here's what the whole experience was really like. They screamed the second we put them down and turned on the camera. The ones above were extremely lucky shots in between cries, as you see here!

Showing off her cute Halloween jammies. Perhaps we should've kept her in bed longer?

And my sweet little boy in his Halloween jammies

Our attempt at a family picture. Much like our tries with the pumpkins, it was a squirmy scream fest for the most part. Here's the "best" one out of the 10 or so that were taken! They're getting their newborn pictures professionally done next week. I hope they act better with a camera around for Melinda and Cristie than they do for their parents. We should come armed with liquor or something for our wonderful photographers as a thank you in advance for what could be a loooonnng photo session...!

Little Monster Cole

Camryn just isn't quite ready for 0-3 month clothes yet! Her Halloween oneise was quite big on her. But still cute, of course.

Not sure what they were going to be for their first Halloween, and being pretty small to fit into most baby costumes, I remembered they have cute jammies that came with matching hats. So here's Crocodile Cole with his Mimi

And here we are getting ready to head down to our Halloween party. Again, Camryn went into complete happy mode as soon as the picture taking process was over.

Our cul-de-sac has an annual Halloween cook-out party each year before trick-or-treating begins. The babies enjoyed being held and loved on by all our neighbors!

Finally a picture where she's not crying in her Halloween get-up. Here's our sweet pink giraffe

The babies ended their first Halloween by trick-or-treating over at Grandpa's and Grandma Jackie's

Here's Grandpa and his little Crocodile

I took a picture with my phone today of the babies next to our booth when we went to vote. I was just informed that cameras, cell phones, etc. are not allowed at the actual voting booth. Oops. Nonetheless, we all wore our stickers out of there proudly this afternoon. This weekend is our CCFA chapter's Education Day. I am so proud to get to be on 2 panels this year relaying my insight and experience with Women and IBD issues. Since one of the main things I'm supposed to talk about is having a successful pregnancy despite having moderate to severe Crohn's Disease, it's only fitting that the babies come along to actually show off the "miracles" they truly are. It will be a big day that we're looking forward to :) :) :)