No more bottles!!!!!

Ryan and I have never liked bottles.  Drinking bottles kept our babies in the NICU for two extra weeks.  Everyday we counted how many minutes it took them to drink and how many cc's they drank.  The next day during Dr rounds they would give us a percentage of the volume consumed by bottle vs feeding tube and until it was over 90% for a week we could not leave.  We loathed bottles early on.  Then Graham had acid reflux.....we started to really hate bottles!  When they were old enough to roll around it was near impossible to get two babies to sit still long enough to drink a bottle!  We have been counting down the days until we could get rid of the bottle!  We were so eager that we didn't even transition....we just made the switch cold turkey!  Out with the formula and bottles and in with the whole milk and sippy cups!
 Here we are feeding the twins bottles in the NICU...we have come a long way since then!

It took the twins a day or so to get used to cold milk out of a sippy cup or straw, but we stuck to it and now they love it!

So many friends suggested slowly transitioning and slowly eliminating one once of formula for milk at a time.....so glad we just ripped off the bandaid and made the switch all at once!  They love drinking out of the big kid straw cup and holding it themselves.  Now when they wake up from afternoon nap and we leave the house I can even give them water in the the straw cup in the car!  Anything that gets us out of the house quicker and makes them more self efficient I am all for!!!  I used to run the dishwasher every other night because we needed to wash bottles....now we run it every 4-5 days!  Normally I am really sad when they outgrow something....but in this case not one tear was shed!

Discovery Place

We attempted to go to Discovery Place on the twins birthday, but by the time we arrived they were closing.  We have been wanting to go every since so we finally got the opportunity! Yet another rainy day in Charlotte lead us to this amazing indoor fun! They loved the fish! They had these little stairs so the kids could stand and look in!

 Ellie was terrified of the turtle, but Graham loved him!

 They had lots of interactive activities upstairs.

 Bed of nails!

Graham thought he was so cool on the bed of nails....don't worry he didn't get hurt!

 I think overall the water table was their favorite.  Luckily since it was raining outside we had our rain jackets with us!

 One last look at the jelly fish before we left!

I think once the kids get a little older we will have to get a membership and play at Discovery Place all the time!!!!

G and E party #2!

Round two of Graham and Ellie's Birthday!  We have a lot of friends and a very big family so we decided to break it up and have 2 parties!

 The spread was a lot more sophisticated at this party! It included Tomato pie and a sausage strata!

 We did make hot air balloon sandwiches for the little ones.

It was so nice to have every single member of our immediate families here.  It is very very rare that we can all be in one place at one time.  Graham and Ellie are so blessed to be loved by so many.  It was also nice to be able to spend quality time with family.  Graham and Ellie even got to take the time to open each persons card and gift!

One happy little birthday girl.

Sweet birthday boy!

Graham and Uncle Jared.

Ellie was so excited she got the Y bike she asked for from Mimi and Pop!!!

Of course Uncle Jake and Pop put it together for her (Ryan and I were so excited to not have to put it together!!)

Graham loved Uncle Jareds funny cards and his monogrammed bucket hat from G Dad and BG!!

How cute do they look in these hats?!

 Sweet Grayson looking sharp in his suspenders and bow tie!

Zach looks like he belongs in a brooks brothers catalog!

Next up....Cake!  Here is the cake for all the family!

And G and E got another smash cake.  Graham ate over half of it and loved each bite!  Ellie again hated it from the very beginning!!

"Its my party and I'll cry if I want to!"

Here are the twins on their new bikes!  They are already so good and independent on them!!

Ellie and Mimi having a snack in the shade.

Relaxing and catching up!

So excited to be able to celebrate these two in such a special way!  We had a blast...but Ryan and I are exhausted!

Still can't believe these sweet babies are now one.  This year has absolutely flown by.  They have become such independent "big kids" over the past month!  We are so blesses to be Graham and Ellie's parents and look forward to watching them continue to grow!

Up, Up and Away! G and E's 1st Birthday!

Although I usually find it hard to find gender neutral toys or themes or fabrics....I knew from the second I saw hot air balloon themed parties that thats what we were going to do for the twinkles 1st Birthday!  I have so much fun planning and preparing for parities and showers and was so excited to finally get to see it all come together.  We also were so thankful for the amazing weather we had this weekend!!!!  Ryan and I made a hot air balloon to take the kids 1 year pictures in!

 Graham Walker Londry and all his 1 year stats.

Elizabeth "Ellie" Mowery Londry and her 1 year stats!

Party number 1- friends! Since it was so pretty we had the entire party outdoors...including the smash cakes!

 The drink station.

 Lots of food!

 And of course some sweets!!!

 Here is Graham's smash cake.

 And Ellies beautiful cake!

 We rarely get a family pic!

 The set up....Ok we are ready to party!!

Me and Ellie with our favorite neighbors Holly and sweet Carter

 Graham with Uncle Andy

We hired a balloon lady to come and she was very very very talented! Thomas ,Walker and Clark patiently waited for their custom ordered balloons!

 Ryan and his balloon sword!

Graham and his monster eye!!

Sweet Grey waiting for her doggie balloon.

Ellie got a princess crown!

And my favorite of the day our neighbor Lilly's octopus!

 James riding the big kid toy!

 Kelly and Bo!

 Aunt Rachel me and Graham!

 Adam, Anne and James swinging in the shade

Uncle Andy and Ellie

 One of Ellie's besties Ridley and her mommy Emily

 Smash cake time.  Ellie kept her hat on for 2 seconds so this is the only pic with both wearing them!

 This sweet boy loved his cake and his hat!

 Ellie was not having the cake!

 After cake we played some more with our friends!

 Sweet Kevin holding all the boys!

 Holly, Ellie, Aunt Rachel, me and Graham.

We were definitely showered with love....look at all these presents!  Even Uncle Andy got them each a special outfit- still impressed a guy went into a kids clothing store and picked out such cute outfits!

They got so spoiled you can't even see the hot air balloon basket!

Thanks for coming!  We had green hot air balloon crayons for our friends at the end of the party!