Summer is here!

Well, the AC is on, we've had tornado warnings, the ice cream truck is in the neighborhood, and the car is getting packed. It must be summer!!

The last month was a busy one for us around the house. We had a family stomach bug, which we graciously shared with the Taylors. (Sorry!) Tanner had his first ear infection and both of his upper front teeth came in at the same time. Dylan got his first black eye and has decided that he is ready to walk. Whew! We need a vacation from this parenting stuff! Oh, we did get a new family wagon that we are really excited to try out in a few weeks.



Dylan still loves to be outside. He weighs 22 pounds now (didn't get posted last time). He is so adventurous! We have a hard time keeping up with him!



Tanner is as sweet as ever! He has actually started seeing a chiropractor and he seems like a whole new, happy baby. He is still just so tiny and cuddly!



A big day for Dylan... his first piece of watermelon! Despite this face, he actually liked it. It wasn't very sweet yet, but we will make sure to get some delicious Missouri watermelons when we visit this summer.

Here is Dylan having somehow crawled into his tiny toy bucket. I think this was the day before he jumped out of the bath tub. Did I mention that he is adventurous?!

Two peas in a pod? Well almost...

Okay, we have loved Costco since the Taylors introduced us a few years ago. But now there is an even better reason to love Costco - double cart! Every store should have these for us families with 'special needs'! Just look at those two mesmerized faces...

Tanner plays so well by himself. He'll just play quietly and you won't hear a sound, until Dylan comes over and steals a toy or tries to nibble on his head!

This picture is a little old, but a good representation of us right now. Parents exhausted, boys alert and ready to play, the house a mess, and life just perfect. We wouldn't have it any other way. It's tough sometimes, but we love our chaotic life. Every time we see those two precious faces, we are reminded how truly blessed we are.

9 Months Old

So, Tanner and Dylan are now 9 months old. Wow! The past nine months have been so challenging and yet some of the most amazing, special, memorable times of our lives. These two little people have brought so much joy and love into our lives. We are truly blessed to have such healthy, happy children. Sniff....




Our little Tanner Joseph. He is still little. He weighs a little over 15 pounds and is still barely on the growth chart. But he has the lungs of someone much bigger and you always know he is around!

He actually eats really well although he hasn't quite taken to true solid food yet. Danica makes the majority of their food and it has to be pureed pretty fine for this fellow. Tanner has slept through the night twice in his nine months of life, but we're sure he'll sleep sooner or later.

Tanner has always loved to be straight up and down and still does. He can just stand on something and play forever. He seems pretty sharp when it comes to 'tricks'. He can raise his hands when you ask how big he is, he can clap, and he plays peek a boo on his own.

He still really loves people. Looking at them, being held by them, talking to them, being held by them... He is such a sweet boy though, who wouldn't want to hold this little bundle of love?!

One of Tanner's favorite games is to be up higher than Dylan and look down at him and laugh. He likes to play with Dylan from afar, but not as much close up. They definitely play keep away and tug of war with their toys, but we're pretty sure they like each other anyway.

At 6 months, Dylan was the momma's boy. Well, now it's more Tanner. There are days Danica has a hard time putting him down, so this is how she goes about her day. Lots of cuddle time with this little one right now! : )

Dylan James has turned into quite the outspoken little man. He used to be so quiet and now he just babbles and yells almost constantly. He says quite a few consonants and loves to practice. Dylan always wakes up happy, talking and laughing and so excited to see whoever is there to greet him.

Since the boys have started holding their own bottles, it has made life just a little bit easier.

Dylan loves to eat! He really likes to pick up solid food and we have tried out several new things lately. He has five teeth and knows how to use them - on his food and his brother. He is somewhat of a biter at the moment; we're working on that!

Dylan can really get around! It is so hard to keep up with him sometimes. He is curious about the world around him. And as you can see, he's in the kitchen helping his dad cook, so he can eat some more! He is just crawling right now, but we think walking isn't too far away. He lets go of things and can stand for a little bit already.

Dylan still loves his dog, Maisy. Now that he moves around, he'll actually crawl over to her, then over her, and take away her toys. Maisy is amazingly patient with the babies and still checks on them when she needs to.

Tanner & Dylan are Baptized

On April 3rd, Tanner and Dylan were baptized at our church, Christ United Methodist Church, here in Plano. at our church, Christ United Methodist Church, here in Plano.

It was a very special day for our new, little family. We feel so blessed with our two baby boys and to give them up to God really means so much.

We were not able to baptize them in front of the congregation, so we had a private event. But all of our incredibly supportive family and friends were there for us.

Rev. Alexandra Robinson has twin boys of her own and has given us some good advice on what to expect down the road.

Rev. Don Underwood is a twin himself and has truly inspired us since we began attending CUMC.

Still brings tears to our eyes...

Heidi/Maudy sent over some Belgian lace hankies to be used during the ceremony.

We got a good picture of all the Whitlocks!

Tanner was mesmerized by the baptismal font and just would not let go!

What a joyous and memorable day we had. Thank you everyone who could be there and surround our family with God's love!

Catching Up

Wow! We have really fallen behind on our blog posting! Let us try to update you on the last two months. Tanner & Dylan are 8 months old now and they pretty much fill up every minute of our days. The nights are a little bit better now. Dylan sleeps through the night about half the time, but Tanner still gets up once or twice. Poor little guy, his tiny tummy just can't seem to hold him over for eleven hours!

Speaking of tummys... The boys are both eating really well. Danica makes most of their food and they like quite a few things. Tanner went through a funny phase when he would only eat food that was orange. That was a challenge because there are just not that many orange foods. They are eating with their fingers pretty well and today we tried meat for the first time. AND, the most exciting thing, they are starting to hold their own bottles!!! Yeah!!

The weather here in Texas has been sooo nice! We take walks or hang out outside as much as we can. Well, until last week when the pollen started blowing around and it seems Tanner might have some allergies...



Here are our happy, drooly boys. Dylan has had a top front tooth come in and Tanner has just one on the bottom which is so cute.



Dylan is such a happy baby! He smiles and laughs so easily. He is so ticklish and laughs at his mom all the time.



Tanner is so sweet. He has turned into quite the cuddler. Two months ago Dylan was the momma's boy, but now it's more Tanner.



We now have a crawler on our hands! Dylan can move around quite well now and has started pulling up on things. Lord help us when Tanner gets it figured out too!

This was the first of certainly many mischievious moments. I had left them alone for a few minutes and when I returned they had taken all of the diapers out of the bag, spread them all over, and were chewing on the bag and diapers. It was actually just really cute!

Tanner thought he should color his face to match his colorful shirt!

Weekends are our favorite, when Dad can be home with us.

We didn't know babies could wear black, but Dylan and Tanner seem to be able to rock anything!

Here is a leftover picture from the beautiful snow we got. We don't really get 'snowed in' in Dallas, but it was so nice to have a few days of really beautiful, peaceful winter weather. We got to take a couple of treks through the snow with our little ones.

We have quite a bit going on the next few weeks, so we should have lots of pictures to share! We hope you are enjoying the beginning of spring wherever you may be!

Happy Half Birthday!

Today Tanner & Dylan are 6 months old! Wow, the time has really flown by! They are such fun babies right now. Smiling and laughing and wanting to explore the world on their own. They love playing with their toys, going for walks, and watching Maisy play fetch. We read books and they both just watch the pages turn to see each new picture. They sleep well during the day, but still not so great during the night. We have just started eating some cereal and we expect to move on to new and exciting foods very quickly.

Tanner is older (by 1 whole minute), but he is still the littler one. He weighs 13lbs which is still light for his age, but he has moved up to the 25th percentile in length. And his head is as big as his brother's! Tanner is so social! He will let anybody hold him and he just loves to look at people's faces. He smiles and laughs so easily. He can blow raspberries and really likes his cereal. And Tanner really loves his dad.

Dylan weighs 19lbs, six more than Tanner. He is in the 75th percentile in weight and length. Dylan is a little more shy than Tanner. It takes a bit to warm up to new people and seems like somewhat of a momma's boy right now. He can sit on his own and has two teeth already! Dylan really likes Maisy and will stop whatever he is doing when she comes in the room.

Happy half birthday sweet boys! We have loved every moment with you and cannot wait for our new adventures together.

Our First Christmas

Our first Christmas as a family of four was wonderful! We actually had three of them! First, we had a small celebration at our home with Grandma and the Taylor family.



We only put up our tiny tree; hopefully next year we'll have the time and energy to put up the big one!



The real gift for us this year was the gift of our beautiful babies and being able to share them with everyone. Grandma drove all the way from New Mexico after her knee surgery to be with us.




Samuel had fun with his new toys using his imagination. Wow, he is growing up so fast!



Erin and Merideth had fun being girlie with the Barbie.

The weather was so nice here in Texas that we got to go to the park and try out our new picnic blanket and show off our new tie-dye outfits. (Thank you Taylors!)

Our second Christmas was with the Whitlock family in Rockwall. Unfotunately, Tanner & Dylan were a little fussy, so we only got one picture. Cousin Alex really enjoys getting to know the little guys. We had such a fun time watching everyone open gifts and just being together.

Our third Christmas followed an 8 hour drive to Missouri. We got lots of stares whenever we stopped with our two tiny babies, car carrier on top (thank you Art!) and dog in the back! We made it though. We chose to leave at about 3am, so the boys didn't have to be awake during the whole trip. I see many car trips in our future!

The boys hung out with us while we opened gifts, but mostly just enjoyed the wrapping paper.

Heidi was looking snazzy in her leopard print Christmas pjs. She made the house so festive and we were able to just relax and share a lot of quality time.

Papa was a little ill, but still made plenty of time to hang out with his new grandbabies. Every morning at 5am, he was ready to relieve us and hold a baby or two.

Robert learned how to carve a turkey. Christmas dinner was absolutely delicious!!

Kristofer was with us when Tanner and Dylan were born, so he got to see them again as bigger, more fun babies.

Denny can always make us laugh! So much fun to hang out with him during his school breaks.

Tanner as our little penguin. He got a touch of the croup during our trip, but came through quickly.

Still smiling after 5 months!!!

We really enjoyed spending time with everyone this holiday season. It was so very special. The memories will be with us for a long, long time.

Thank you to everyone. We love you!