Wrapping up 2009

We started as this family of "3"

Ready to explode :)

Happiest day of my life

My almost 15 pounds of baby, lying exactly how they were at the end of my pregnancy

The beautiful blessings God has trusted us with. We are SO blessed!!!

As 2009 comes to a close, it truly brings tears to my eyes to think how our lives have changed.

To say we've been blessed would be an understatement. We had an amazing and very busy first Christmas with the boys, and can't even imagine what the future holds for these little buddies. They were blessed beyond belief, and just having them was the most spectacular Christmas present we could have ever been blessed with. God is SO Good!!!

Here are several pictures (it was tough to narrow it down) to sum up 2009.

2010 is certain to be another fantastic year for the Blakeslee Family. I have decided that I'm going to train for a 1/2 marathon in April, so that should keep me just a tad busier :) And Dan will be graduating from Law School this August (I can't even tell you how very proud I am to call him my husband). We look forward to throwing a big bash to celebrate his huge accomplishment, so planning for that should also keep my busy, but I'm thrilled to do it. We've also decided with the boys MANY toys, it was time to get our lower level prepped for our family room/toy room. We hope to have this project underway in February, stay tuned for some before and after shots of that too.

I hope everyone has a fabulous New Year. Though 2009 brought many challenges of its own, I will certainly cherish all they joy of 2009 as well. Wilson Reagan and Andrew Patrick, I LOVE YOU!!!!

And....HE'S OFF!

This afternoon I quickly ran downstairs to start a load of laundry while the boys were watching their praise baby video....and came upstairs to find this......






Yup, he's on the move and terrorizing the poor dog now. She was less than excited to find him in her water bowl.
Wil seems to be a little disgusted that Drew is getting around without him, so I don't think it will be too long before I'm chasing both of them around the house and out of the kitchen :)

As for now, I'll keep them corralled in the laundry basket.

9 Month Appointment

Friday I took the boys for their 9 month appointment with the help of my Mother-in-law...Thanks Jill!

They are definitely still growing quite steadily. We held them as the Dr. was doing his exam on both boys, because this is the age where they develop some pretty intense stranger/ separation anxiety. I held Drew, and the poor little guy was very skeptical of the Dr. the entire time. Jill was holding Wil, and the little rascal showed NO signs of stranger anxiety...he hammed it up the entire time.

Wilson's stats:
Weight 23 lbs 9.5 ounces (92nd percentile)
Height 29.25 inches (80th percentile)
Head Circumference 46 cm (65th percentile)....So there, to all of you folks that tell me my child has a HUGE melon :) He just has HUGE cheeks...kissable cheeks I might add!

They also had their 2nd shot for their flu shots and this "normally" dramatic child, didn't even let out a peep. He was feeling pretty comfy with his Grandma talking to him and snuggling him.

He is cutting his top 2 teeth right now, so he seems to just like to snuggle a lot...and most of the time, I'm happy to oblige him.

Andrew's Stats:
Weight 23 lbs 6 ounces (90th percentile)
Height 29.75 inches (90th percentile)
Head Circumference 48 cm (100th percentile)....we are so glad his head has come back on the charts, the Dr. had us a little worried about the rapid growth and what that could mean for brain development. While I knew he was fine developmentally, it's still VERY scary when the Dr. mentions that.

Drew is usually very easy going when it comes to shots and cries for about 10 seconds afterward...not this time, he was hysterical, poor baby.

Drew is working on cutting his 8th tooth, so as you can imagine he is drooling and chewing on everything.

I LOVE being a mommy and definitely have the BEST job ever! Twins are not always an easy task, but it is by far the most rewarding part of my life. I LOVE them to pieces!!!

Our First Christmas Celebration

Saturday, the boys celebrated their first Christmas at my mom's house. They had a very busy day, 2 baby showers and an evening Christmas celebration (with only 1 small cat nap on the car ride down to Grandma's).

We had a GREAT time with them and have come to grips with the fact that there "stuff" will soon over take our home :) Grandma and Grandpa got them their first push and ride toys, and so far they have provided some great entertainment.



Uncle Mark and Aunt Cherie bought them a milk pitcher w/"cookies" in it that moo's when tipped...Wil loves to chew all the cookies! They also gave them one of those deals that the little animals pop up w/you twist or push the knobs. The boys are experts at closing all of them, but haven't mastered how to get them to pop up, or how to get their fingers out of the way to push them down (lots of tears, trying to figure that part out).

Drew hogging all of the new toys

Aunt Shellie bought the boys TONS of great books. We've enjoyed reading A LOT this week, lots of Dr. Seuss and baby Einstein books!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! I love having books that they can play with and not worry about pages missing in the future!


Wil also decided all he wanted for Christmas were his 2 front teeth. Saturday morning I noticed they are starting to come through (it appears he won't have a HUGE gap like Drew does :)) Drew also got his 7th tooth Saturday, so as you can imagine, there has been lots of motrin and tears in the Blakeslee house over the last few days!

Last night, I also decided it was time to find a better way to make bath time easier on me, since Dan is often gone at night. So, we decided to try out the big tub. Needless to say, these little buggers would have stayed in until they were raisins if I would have let them. There were a lot of tears when it was time to get out. But the important part was, it was easier for me and they LOVED it.

Wilson, VERY disappointed having to get out of the tub

Splashing as much as possible (in about 2 inches of water)

We hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas Season, and truly remembering the reason for the season!!!

In Christ~
Dan, Gretchen, Wil and Drew

9 Months!

Today my babies are 9 months!!! They are really starting to show their little personalities.

Drew seems to be quite independent, and shows this whenever he's being buckled into his carseat (he tends to shove me away :( ). He also seems to think he's too big to lie back to take his bottle, he insists on sitting up. This little bugger is just days away from crawling, although some days I think he might just skip the crawling all together and just walk. As for now, he just gets around by bouncing on this bottom. He still really loves his Praise Baby videos, but I think it's time to invest in a couple new videos (for my own sanity). He continues to be quite a mommas boy, but sure does get excited when daddy comes home from work. Drew also has 6 teeth, 2 on top and 4 on bottom (with 2 more coming in on top).

Wil has developed quite a little "tude" in the last month. He makes this awful "growling" noise. At first we weren't quite sure if he was in pain with his reflux when he was doing it, but now we are pretty sure it's just him expressing himself. He does it when he's on his tummy, or in his carseat and the car isn't moving, or when Drew has a toy he wants. We also found out last week, that we are in our last month with the helmet...we are soooo excited about that (look for photos of the new and improved head in future posts). Wil still has yet to feed himself, but I think he'll grasp this soon. He continues to struggle with his texture issues, therefore not experimenting with too many new table foods. He wasn't too fond of Turkey
dinner last week, the potatoes gagged him and turkey just wasn't his thing. He still only has his 2 teeth on the bottom, but when he smiles he makes sure you know he does indeed have 2 teeth.

These boys continue to be the light of my life, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank God that I'm able to be home with them. Being home with them has had many added bonus' in this flu season. We've been blessed to only experience a couple colds.

We are really looking forward to Christmas this year with the boys. This weekend, they will have their first of many Christmas' with my mom's side of the family. And it looks like it will be a white Christmas for sure. Today we got about 4 inches of snow in Holland, and I'm ok with it as long as the roads stay clear. We hope your Holidays are filled with Love, Health, and many Blessings.

Drew and Wil all ready for the first snow fall.

It's getting harder and harder to get a good picture of the 2 of them together.